


Waking up in Vegas

by amcsummersgoddess



Category: Cherik - Fandom
Genre: Angel is a badass, Angel is determined to take down Shaw, Charles always knows what to say, Cherik - Freeform, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Erik is a Sweetheart, Hank Being Awesome, I don’t know what else to tag so, Las Vegas, Multi, Mutant Powers, Mutual Pining, Poker, Poor Alex - Freeform, Poor Hank, Pre-Serum Hank McCoy, Protective Erik, Raven is a badass, Shaw is an evil bastard, These boys are a mess what can I say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-06-21 04:34:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15549720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amcsummersgoddess/pseuds/amcsummersgoddess
Summary: Charles and Erik accidentally get married, Hank gets a tattoo, Raven finds love, Alex is pissed off per usual, and Sean’s missing.What else could go wrong?





	1. Hungover

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter will be told from a different POV, the first one is Charles. Enjoy!!

Charles’ head was pounding. It physically _pained_ him to open his eyes, but he knew he didn’t have a choice since he had a plane to catch in the early morning.

_He had a plane to catch._

“Shit!” Charles sat up and opened his eyes but quickly shut them as the sunlight was nearly blinding. He reached out to whatever or whoever was next to him and nudged at them. 

“S’op it,” he heard a nearby grumble and Charles tried to reach out telepathically but winced as it caused him a sharp pain in his head. He got enough sense of the person to realize it was Erik. 

“Get up and close the blinds,” Charles hissed and nudged at Erik again, who groaned, and Charles heard the shuffling of his body move. When he heard the draw of blinds shut, he opened his eyes and looked around the suite. 

Hank was sprawled across the couch, drool trickling down to his chin, his hair messy and shirt undone with his tie draped over his eyes. Alex was nestled on the coffee table, all of his limbs dangling off the edge, and a champagne bottle in his hand. Raven was curled comfortably on the loveseat, her fiery orange hair slightly askew.

Charles looked around their suite which was completely trashed. He didn’t remember having a party last night, then again he didn’t remember anything from the previous night at all. He looked over at Erik who was studying his hand intensely. “What is it?” Charles looked down at his own hand out of curiosity and saw a silver wedding band firmly resting on his ring finger. He quickly looked back at Erik to see he was wearing a matching one. “Oh my god.” The revelation was too much for him to wrap his head around at the moment and he looked around the room once again, then back at Erik. “Where’s Sean?” 

**_48 hours earlier…_ **

The printer buzzed to life and Charles grabbed the fresh paper of coordinates. Studying the paper, he walked down a few hallways till he reached Hank’s lab, making his way in and handing Hank the coordinates. “If this is where I think it is, I can definitely make a trip out of it,” he grinned as Hank studied them himself.

“Cerebro printed these?” He looked up and Charles nodded. 

“There’s a mutant out there who’s not in the best situation they could be in. I was thinking of driving down at first, but I realized if it’s in Vegas, we might as well have a little fun while we’re there too.” Hank started to smile and Charles knew he was on board. “Better start packing then, I’ll go tell the others.” With that, Charles made his way out of the lab and upstairs to the living quarters, calling everyone down to the living room. 

He was starting to feel giddy about the announcement. He was going to Vegas! Maybe he could talk Erik into sharing a hotel room with him…

Erik entered the living room first, looking at Charles a little suspiciously before taking a seat on the couch. “You’re excited, I can tell.”

Charles waved a hand and dismissed his words. “I think you’ll be too when I tell you the news.”

“What news?” Raven chimed in and sat down on the loveseat, looking between Charles and Erik for some sort of explanation. Her amber eyes went wide with excitement as she started to get her own idea on what the news could possibly be. “Did you two finally-” Charles shot her a look and her excitement died down, making Erik look at them both weirdly now, “finally match in a chess game?” Raven finished and Charles shook his head while Erik still looked confused.

Charles breathed a sigh of relief when Alex and Sean finally made their way in and he had a valid excuse now to cut the awkwardness that was building. He clasped his hands together and smiled brightly at everyone, getting their attention. “I was downstairs using Cerebro and I’ve found a fellow mutant that could use our help. Where they are will excite you all since I’ve decided to make a trip out of it,” he beamed while everyone else stared back at him blankly. “We’re going to Vegas!”

“Like Vegas Vegas? The one with all of the casinos?” Alex piped up first, eyes glistening with excitement.

“And with all those shows with pretty girls?!” Sean was starting to shake with excitement. “And all you can eat buffets?!”

“Yes.” Sean jumped on Charles and nearly tackled him to the ground when he gave him what Charles assumed was a hug. He stumbled backwards a little bit before regaining his balance. 

Sean planted a big fat kiss on his cheek. “You are the best professor-dad in the whole wide world!” He ran upstairs and went to start packing; Charles wiped at his cheek with his sleeve since it was a little wet.

“I’m going to get so tan!” Raven cheered before heading upstairs herself. 

“This is going to be one hell of a trip!” Alex chuckled and clasped Charles on the shoulder before also heading upstairs to pack a bag.

Erik still sat quietly on the couch, unmoving. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Charles? I mean, traveling with four mutants who were just minors months ago in an area where _anything_ can happen?” Charles shrugged off his concerns.

“We’re only staying for three days. What’s the worst that could happen?”

-  
“No,” Hank said firmly, making Charles let out a long sigh. “I will not sit next to him for _four_ hours. I refuse.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Alex who was comfortably sitting by the window on the plane.

“Hank,” Charles tried again calmly, “you’re making a scene, my friend.” He glanced around to see everyone on the plane was looking right at them. “It’s just one flight, you can sit next to him for one flight.” Charles looked over at Alex who seemed unbothered. “Just ignore each other and refrain from talking if you think it will cause any distress.”

Hank reluctantly sat down next to Alex and gave Charles a near death stare. “I just don’t see why we can’t switch seats,” he grumbled.

Raven, being in a row in front of them, turned around in her seat, adding into the conversation. “Because Charles _has_ to sit next to Erik,” she snickered and Charles shot her a death glare of his own. “What? You’re not very subtle unlike some of us,” she looked over at Hank who looked confused. Raven rolled her eyes. “Boys are dumb,” she sighed. 

Charles shook his head at his sister and returned to his seat next to Erik, buckling himself in. “Still think this is a good idea?” Erik mused and Charles couldn’t help but smile.

“Please, Hank and Alex having a quarrel is the least of my concerns. It’s you that I’m worried about,” he teased and Erik cocked an eyebrow. 

“Excuse me? You’re worried about _me_?” Charles nodded. “Why?”

“You’ll be surrounded by lots of shiny metal and temptations will rise.”

Erik chuckled. “Oh, it’s me you’re worried about? Not the fact that you’ll have access to all the alcohol you could ever want?”

Charles scoffed and playfully swatted his arm. “Please, I will not get drunk. I’m the adult on this trip, I need to stay sober and keep an eye on everyone.” Erik shook his head at him and laughed. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Charles rolled his eyes, playfully, making Erik laugh even more. “You know Charles, if anything does go wrong, we can fix it, and it’s your fault.” 

Charles bit back a smile. “Whatever you say, Erik.”   
He looked over at Sean and Raven, seeing them both chatting away. He glanced over at Hank, seeing he was occupying himself in a book, and Alex’s eyes were closed as his head rested against the window. “I think this trip will be good for them,” he said mainly to himself and Erik if he was still listening. “It’s good for them to get out of the house and go somewhere they’ve never gone before. Become more cultured.”

“So next trip will be to Disney World, got it.” Charles giggled and looked back at Erik with a smile. 

“You just want to see me in mouse ears, don’t you?” Erik smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. Charles stared at him seconds longer, wanting to say more, but he decided against it. He hoped this trip would bring him and Erik closer, take their friendship and slight flirting to the next level. Erik was so hard to read, Charles never knew if he reciprocated his feelings or not. 

He sighed to himself when a baby started to cry as the plane took off. This was going to be a long flight. 

-  
When the plane landed after the longest four hours of everyone’s lives, they got a couple taxis and started to head to the hotel. Charles went in one taxi with Alex and Raven, he didn’t trust her alone with Erik, while Erik went in the other taxi with Hank and Sean. 

“What hotel are we going to?” Raven asked as she shifted a bit uncomfortably in the backseat since she was sandwiched between the two men.

“I hope it’s the Flamingo, I heard that place is nice,” Raven nodded in agreement to Alex’s suggestion. “Or the Sahara.”

Charles gave a warm smile to them both. “I’m sorry to disappoint you both but it’s neither of those places, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy where we’re staying.” 

“Oh my god!” Raven gasped in excitement as she leaned over Charles to look out the window. “We’re staying on the strip! Charles!” She nudged his arm in excitement. “Is that Caesars Palace?! Are we staying there?!” Charles couldn’t hide his grin and nodded. “We’re staying at Caesars Palace!” She nearly screamed and Alex covered his ears in annoyance.

“It’s just a hotel,” he began and Raven shot him a look. 

“Just a hotel? This place was just built last summer! It’s a Roman Palace!” Alex rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything more and Raven looked back at Charles, thrilled. “You are the _best_ brother in the whole wide world!” She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and Charles’ head hit the window when the taxi came to a stop. Raven nearly tackled Charles and got out of the taxi first, starting to bounce on her heels in excitement. 

Charles made his way out with Alex, seeing Erik, Hank, and Sean were out as well, all of them staring at the casino in awe. 

“Well what are we waiting for?!” Sean ran ahead of everyone else, they all followed him inside. When they got inside, Sean was staring at everything like he was a kid in a candy store, Raven put her hands over her mouth and squealed again, Alex let out a low whistle, Hank’s eyes were about to come out of his head, and Erik looked excited. 

“I’ll go check us in,” Charles announced but no one was listening. He walked over to the front desk, which was made out of marble and a large portrait was painted behind it, and checked in, getting six hotel keys before going back to everyone else, who were still looking around. “These are the keys to our suite,” he handed everybody one.

“Suite?” Hank was the first to snap out of his daze. “You got us a suite?” 

“Yes, it’s on the twenty-ninth floor-

Before he could even finish, they were all rushing over to the elevators. 

“Still think this was a good idea?” Erik asked as he started to walk over to the elevators with Charles.

“Of course. They’re just all very excited,” he smiled and him and Erik were able to get in the same elevator with everyone else. 

Charles liked the feeling of everyone’s excitement humming through him. He hadn’t seen any of them this happy in awhile and he knew that they really needed this trip. 

When the elevator dinged to their floor, the young mutants all rushed down the hall to the suite while Charles and Erik walked casually behind them. As they entered the suite, they saw the best view of the whole Vegas strip. There was a large pool table in the center of the room, a flat screen TV in front of an L-shaped leather couch, and there was a small staircase that led to the bedrooms. 

“Alright everyone,” Charles announced using his professor voice, “I know this is exciting but we all must be responsible for our actions. You are all allowed at least five drinks and must return to this suite by eleven thirty at the latest. Understand?”

“Charles,” Raven smiled sweetly, “we’re on vacation! Do we really need a curfew and a drink limit?”

“Yes,” he said firmly and ignored the look Erik was giving him. “It’s for your own safety, you must understand.” 

“I do,” Hank agreed. “I understand completely and you don’t need to worry about me, Charles. I’ll be one hundred percent responsible.” Charles smiled at him. 

“Stick in the mud,” Alex barked at him and Hank glared back at him.

“Have fun with a hangover,” he retorted before heading upstairs with his suitcase and claiming a bedroom. 

“I’m going to go shopping,” Raven gave a small wave goodbye before leaving the suite. 

Sean and Alex started to play pool and Charles turned his attention to Erik. “Let’s go recruit someone, yeah?” Erik nodded in agreement, leaving the young mutants alone.


	2. Adventures On The Strip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hank’s POV now!!! Enjoy!!

The knock on Hank’s bedroom door took some of his attention away from his book, but not enough to take him out of his trance that he got when he read. 

He took three books with him before he left; one to read on each day, and he was halfway done with the second one he brought, _1984_. Hank wondered what the next twenty years would be like, he surely hoped the future would be nothing like the novel, especially since the government was watching the citizen’s every move.

The book was starting to get juicy too. 

The main character, Winston Smith, was about to hook up with his love interest, Julie, and Hank couldn’t wait to read about the secrecy-

“Sean and I are heading downstairs to the buffet. Are you coming with us or are you going to stay in here all day and avoid social interactions as usual?” Alex’s words snapped Hank out of his thoughts and he looked over at the other mutant with a slight glare, receiving a smile in reply. 

“I don’t avoid social interactions,” he grumbled as he folded the corner of his page to bookmark it before closing the book and setting it down on his mattress. 

“Right,” Alex replied in a disbelieving tone, “So are you coming or what?”

Hank glanced at his watch, seeing it was a quarter to seven. “We still have about five hours left before curfew,” he said mainly to himself, “I’ll come.” He got off of his bed, it was a waterbed which was new for him and it was shockingly comfortable, and walked over to the doorway to see Alex was giving him a weird look. “What?”

“Are you seriously following Charles’ curfew?”

“Yes.”

Alex shook his head at him, letting out a sigh. “You honestly don’t know how to have fun,” Hank shot him another look. “What? You don’t! All you do is just sit in the lab and do things and read books.”

“So sleeping your days away and being completely unproductive is fun for you?” Hank retorted, crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance. 

“Yes. Should try it sometime,” with that, Alex led the way downstairs and Hank reluctantly followed him. When they got downstairs, he saw Sean looking a little impatient by the door. 

“Can we go eat now?” He nearly whined and a loud rumble was heard in the room, Hank hoped it was his stomach. “I’m hungry.” Hank nodded and Sean nearly jumped with joy, racing out of the room before him or Alex could say more. 

“Do you think Charles will be mad when he sees the bill?”

Alex shrugged. “Probably.”

-  
Hank had never seen more food _ever_ in all twenty-two years of living than he did right now. The buffet covered at least three walls and all of the food was piled high up in the trays, waiting to be eaten. 

“It’s so beautiful,” Sean awed and Hank had to admit, it was surely a sight. “I don’t even know where to start. Should it be with the meats? Side dishes? Desserts?”

“How about with a plate?” Alex teased and Hank let out a small laugh. “I see some burgers so if you’ll excuse me,” he made his way over to a wall that was near the elevators.

Hank watched as Sean took at least five of everything and piled it onto one plate while Hank himself got some chicken, pasta, salad, and a slice of cheesecake for dessert, all decent portions of course. 

Once they all got their food, they joined at a small table near the casino entrance where the slot machines and card tables were, Hank saw that Alex’s plate was piled high as well. He knew both him and Sean would not be holding that food down any time soon.

Sean and Alex scarfed down their food rather quickly, both of them acting like they never ate before in their lives, while Hank savored his food and didn’t give himself heartburn which he knew the other two would have later on. 

After their meal, Sean let out an obnoxiously loud burp and slumped back in his chair. “I think I’m going to need to take my pants off,” he rubbed at his now bulging gut.

“Please don’t,” Hank replied, trying to hide his disgust. “I can’t believe you two ate all of that food.”

Alex shrugged and stood up, rolling back his shoulders. “I’m going to get us some shots,” he announced before leaving the table and heading in the direction of the bar. Hank watched him go and out of the corner of his eye he saw Sean staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he mumbled in reply and before Hank could say anymore, Alex returned back to the table with a tray of shots, there had to be at least fifteen shot glasses on there. Hank watched as Sean and Alex drank about five each, leaving the rest for Hank. 

“If you’re not going to drink those, than I am,” Alex said as he noticed Hank’s hesitance. “You’re the one that said you don’t want to break Charles’ rules. Sean and I already had our limit, we shouldn’t betray Charles and have more than he wants us to.”

Hank huffed and stared down at the shot glasses. He knew he was a total lightweight and just one shot alone would easily make him buzzed and he was the _responsible_ one here. 

But what did he have to lose? If he had a hangover, then so what? He’ll drink lots of water, take some pills, and all will be well.

He picked up the first glass, studying the clear liquid to what he assumed was vodka. Of course that’s what Alex got. Hank brought the glass to his lips, prepared himself to not wince, and downed the shot in one gulp. He coughed as the alcohol burned his throat, but soon he was downing another and another until the tray was empty. 

“You’re such an ass,” he told Alex, who looked rather pleased with himself, after he downed his last shot. Hank thought his smile was nearly blinding, he knew he shouldn’t have drank that much.

“And you’re starting to sound like a sailor,” he teased and stood up once again, Sean did as well. “Come on, let’s go.” 

“Where are we going?” Hank stood up as well, catching up to him to see they were leaving the casino.

Alex smirked at him. “You’ll see.”

-  
The Vegas Strip was lit up at night and Hank was looking up at everything in awe. “Our hotel is so big,” he observed as he looked at the building from a couple blocks away. “You know, Julius Caesar was stabbed twenty-three times. That’s one more amount than me since I’m twenty-two. Do you think I’ll die next year or at fifty-five like Caesar?”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to assassinate you,” Alex replied as he seemed to be the only one listening since Sean was too busy looking at the other casinos to notice his surroundings. “Wasn’t Caesar like a dick anyway?”

“Not necessarily. He died because he formed governmental structure and people feared he’d get too powerful as a dictator. People fear power. Maybe that’s why people fear us as mutants, because we have power. With power comes great responsibility though and as mutants, we need to be responsible.”

Alex giggled. “You’re really drunk, Hank.”

“No I’m not.” Hank had never been drunk in his life and if he were to be drunk, he would know. Right now, he just felt warm and fuzzy inside like a blanket was tightly wrapped around him to keep him safe. “No drunk person can spew facts like I did. You’re the one that’s drunk, not me.” Alex shook his head at him and led Hank and Sean further down the strip.

It took Hank a moment to realize that Alex actually called him by his name instead of his usual Bozo. Interesting. 

“You’re a lot more tolerable when I’m drunk.” Hank said to himself but he must’ve said it out loud since Alex was now looking a little offended. “Did I just say that out loud?”

“Strip club!” Sean yelled, taking both of their attention away from each other to see the other run into the neon pink building. Hank didn’t want to go in, but he saw Alex go in after Sean and he didn’t want to separate from the group.

The club was dark and _Wild Thing_ was blasting loudly throughout the venue. Hank couldn’t find Sean or Alex anywhere but he was starting to get thirsty so he went to the bar first, he’ll find them after. 

When he approached the bar, a wicked looking man was standing behind it, taking orders and filling glasses. Hank decided on just getting some water, especially since he had alcohol earlier and he needed to flush it out of his system. The bartender wasn’t looking in his general direction quite yet so he skimmed the people surrounding the bar, seeing a familiar blond was over at the very end. 

“Alex!” Hank shouted but Alex didn’t seem to hear him or he was ignoring him from what he said earlier. He made his way over to him since Hank insisted on apologizing since what he did say was a bit rude even though Alex had probably said worse things to him. “Alex, I’m so glad I found you,” he glanced at his hand to see he was holding a drink and Hank took it from him and gulped it down before setting the empty glass on the counter. “What was in that?” He made a sour face as he didn’t like the taste.

“Whiskey,” Alex replied as he signaled the bartender for another drink. “You owe me another one.”

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, “about your drink and what I said earlier. I didn’t mean it.”

“You’re drunk, a truthful drunk, but still drunk.” Hank nodded in agreement and took a step closer to Alex, wrapping his arms around him. “Hank, what are you doing?”

“Giving you an apology hug,” he said simply as he pressed Alex’s smaller frame up against his taller one. He got a whiff of Alex’s shampoo and recognized the scent as berries. “You smell nice.”

“Remind me to never give you alcohol again,” Alex mumbled against Hank’s chest before pushing himself off. “Have you seen Sean?”

Hank shook his head. “I thought he came in with you?”

“He did, then he ate a brownie from this random guy and went off into a private booth with some blonde girl,” Alex ran a hand through his hair, starting to look around. 

“I want a brownie.” A brownie did sound good right now and Hank was starting to digest his dinner, feeling hungry again. “I bet they didn’t have brownies in _1984_.”

Alex turned back to Hank, looking at him incredulously. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“ _1984_ , it’s a book by George Orwell,” he replied nonchalant. “It’s really good, you can read it when I’m done with it.” 

“That’s okay, I have a feeling you’ll be telling me about it anyway. Come on,” Alex grabbed his arm and started to guide him through the club, “lets get out of here.” They were close to the exit when Hank came to a halt.

“What about Sean?” 

Alex started smirked. “I think he’ll be just fine.”

-  
Once out of the strip club, Hank looked around the strip and noticed a tattoo parlor a couple buildings away. “I always thought tattoos were cool, you know when ink goes deep into the skin and even if you get hurt, the ink is still there.” Hank rambled as he tended to do. 

“So why don’t you get one?” Alex suggested and Hank was starting to think he was right. Why didn’t he just get one?

“Okay,” he agreed and started to head towards the shop. “Do you want to get one too?”

Alex shook his head and clapped Hank on the back. “I think this is something only for you to do, Hank.”

Hank frowned at the fact that Alex didn’t want to get a tattoo with him, but that didn’t stop him from entering the tattoo shop. 

The shop was smaller than the strip club and there were decals plastered all over the walls. Hank saw a giant booklet sitting nearby on the counter by the cash register and he started to look through the different tattoo designs. 

“Would it be narcissistic of me to get a picture of myself?” He told Alex, who was next to him, when he didn’t seem pleased with any of the designs in the book.

“A little,” Alex replied honestly. “Why don’t you do something cool like a dragon?”

Hank thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I can do cool.”

“Guys!” Both of them whipped around to see Sean was now inside the shop, holding up a clear bag with brownies in it. “Do you want one?” He dangled the bag in the air for them to see.

“How did you find us?” Alex asked as he took the bag from Sean, smelling the brownies before handing the bag back to him. Hank tried to reach out and take the bag from Alex first, but he wasn’t quick enough.

“I followed you guys out but you two were talking so you didn’t notice,” he shoved his hand inside the bag and took out a brownie, starting to eat it. “This wizard gave me these and said they’re the key to finding the aliens.”

“Can I have one?” Hank asked and Sean nodded, handing him the bag but Alex quickly snatched it and shoved the bag in his pocket. “Hey! I wanted one!”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Trust me you don’t. You’ll be thanking me later.” Hank watched with envy as Sean continued to munch happily on his brownie.

“Hey!” The three of them jumped to see a gruff looking man appeared out of the back room. “No eating in my shop!” He hollered and Sean quickly dashed away, saying something about aliens again before he left. “You solicitors or want a tattoo?” The man looked between the two of them, eyes landing on Hank.

“He’s here to get a tattoo,” Alex pushed Hank to step forward.

“Alright, follow me,” the man led them into a back room with a single chair. Hank sat down while Alex stood against the wall. “What do you want, kid?” Hank thought for a moment about what he wanted and where before hearing the tattoo gun buzz to life.

Here goes nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any idea on who the tattoo artist is? Where Sean went? WHAT TATTOO HANK GOT????
> 
> Guess who’s POV is next ;)


	3. Love, relaxation, and a hint of suspicion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dorogoy-my dear
> 
> This one is from Raven’s POV and just like the summary, she finds love! 
> 
> Or does she...

Raven wiggled her coral painted fingers and toes and rolled back her shoulders in the waiting room of the spa. While everyone else was out getting drunk, she certainly knew Charles would, she took the time in Vegas to pamper herself. She treated herself to a manicure and pedicure, charged to the room of course, and was now waiting her massage. It certainly had been awhile since she took time for herself, but being on this vacation certainly gave her enough time to do anything. 

“Excuse me, Ma’am, sorry for the wait,” the receptionist said, taking Raven out of her thoughts, “but we appear to be short staffed today. Would you like to reschedule an appointment for tomorrow?” Raven started to frown, she certainly did not want to reschedule. 

“There isn’t a single masseuse available?”

The receptionist gave a strained smile and the grip on the clipboard she was holding tightened. “Well, there is one _man_ available, but a pretty girl like you wouldn’t want him.” Raven held back the urge to roll her eyes. She knew damn well if she was in her natural form the lady would think otherwise about calling her pretty. 

“I’m perfectly fine with him being a man, as long as he can get out the knots in my back, that’s all that matters to me.” She smiled sweetly at the receptionist who still looked tense. “Is there something I should be worried about?”

“Well, his appearance may be a little off putting,” she began but Raven held up her hand to silence her. 

“I’m not a shallow person and as long as he does a good massage, I don’t care,” she stood up then and headed into the hallway with the massages rooms without being escorted. 

All of the doors were closed expect the one at the end of the hall and Raven walked on in there, halting in the doorway when she saw the masseuse. Her eyes went up and down the red figure, who’s back was facing her, and started to smile as she shifted into her natural form. 

“I believe I’m your six o’clock.” The man turned around, revealing his devilish details that Raven found all the more handsome. The man looked back at Raven, jaw slacked open. “Is something wrong?”

The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare,” his voice was deep and accented with Russian, “I’ve just never seen someone so beautiful before.”

Raven licked her lips as she felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. “Well you’re pretty handsome yourself.” Raven shifted her form to resemble the other man since he still looked a bit shy. “I’d kill to look like you,” she shifted back into her form, leaving the man in shock. 

“You-you’re a mutant?” She beamed and nodded. “Did you come here alone?”

“No, I traveled with my brother, his future lover, and a few friends, all mutants like you and me. I’m Raven,” she stuck out her hand for him to take, which he did in a firm yet quick shake. “We’re here to recruit a mutant that lives here, actually.”

The man cocked an eyebrow. “Recruit? Are you building an army?” Raven giggled, she liked this guy. 

“No, no army. Charles, my brother, is highly against war so the army is the last thing on his mind. Erik on the other hand, well, he’s Erik. Anyway, Charles has a home for mutants back in New York, like a safe haven. He’s very righteous in helping those who need saving.” She blushed as she realized she was rambling, a habit she did when she was nervous and most definitely picked it up from Charles. “Sorry, I tend to ramble. What did you say your name was?”

“Azazel,” he replied a bit tartly. 

“Well Azazel, it’s great to meet you,” she grinned and made her way to the massage table, slipping off her robe before laying down. “Whenever you’re ready.” 

-  
After the _best_ massage Raven had ever had in her whole life, yes it was _that_ good, she gave Azazel her room number and told him to meet her up there in an hour since his shift didn’t end till eight. 

Feeling very relaxed, Raven ordered a nice dinner over room service and unpacked her bags while she waited for Azazel.

She _certainly_ couldn’t be the only one having success in the love department on this trip, could she? If Charles and Erik just kissed already, all of their frustration would just be gone and they could be happy together. Hank on the other hand-

The knock on the door took Raven out of her thoughts and she started to feel giddy. She took a deep breath before sauntering over to the door, opening it up to see Azazel was standing there, now wearing a suit and a single rose in his hand. “You, _dorogoy_ , are a sight for sore eyes,” he took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles and handed her the rose. 

“Azazel, you’re too kind. You just saw me an hour ago,” she took a step back to let him into the hotel room. “I hope you like salmon!” She eagerly led him over to the table she set up for dinner and they both sat down, starting to eat their meal. “So how long have you been in Vegas?”

“About a few months now, I moved here for..business purposes,” he replied a bit hesitant, making Raven a little curious but she didn’t press. “You said you’re here with your brother?” Raven nodded. “What does he do?”

“He has a lot of degrees in a lot of things, he’s big on genetics,” she drawled on, not really in the mood to talk about Charles. “Went to Oxford, all that stuff.”

“Is he a shapeshifter like you?” Raven shook her head. 

“Nope, he’s a telepath. I’m the only shapeshifter in my family.” 

Azazel’s interests seemed to peak. “Your whole family are mutants?”

“Well, none of them are related to me by blood, but I consider them my family. Charles took me in when I was a little girl, nearly begged Sharon to adopt me,” she smiled as she reminisced. “Erik is _technically_ my brother-in-law whether him and Charles are together or not, Hank is a good friend of mine and I see Sean and Alex as my annoying little brothers,” she giggled. “But enough about me, tell me about you.” Raven rested her head on her hand, giving Azazel her full attention.

“I grew up in Russia and moved to the states when I was eighteen. Just been moving from job to job since then,” he replied and Raven felt like he was hiding something, but she swallowed that feeling away with a sip of her wine. 

Besides, it was _only_ the first date after all. 

-  
After Azazel left, he promised Raven that he would come visit her, kudos to his mutation that wouldn’t be very tricky at all. Raven believed he would visit her because unlike some telepaths, when she felt a connection with someone, she seized the opportunity, and her and Azazel really made a connection. 

Maybe this was what it felt like to find the right one. Well, Azazel _could_ be the right one, Raven just had to get to know him better before she can really determine anything. 

Raven happily cleaned up dinner, left the trays outside of the hotel room for maintenance to come take care of, and she flopped down on the oversized couch, trying to think of what to do next. 

She only had one glass of wine so far, that did leave her with four more drinks for the night to have. After all, she should take advantage of Charles’ drink limit, shouldn’t she?

Raven eagerly jumped off of the couch and headed downstairs, going to the third floor where she knew the bar was at. She loved the elevators in this hotel since they smelled like vanilla, her favorite scent, and she enjoyed the long elevator ride downstairs. 

Before the elevator opened, Raven shifted into her blonde haired human form, and spotted the bar at the back of the room.

But something halted her. 

She heard a voice, a very familiar voice that was just sweeping her off of her feet moments ago talking to someone nearby. Raven cocked her head to see Azazel was not too far away, talking to a wicked looking man. 

Raven wasn’t an eavesdropper, she really wasn’t, but she was nosy, and this did involve someone she could see herself with so she had to listen in. Azazel wouldn’t recognize her like this anyway, so she hid behind a crowd of people nearby the two of them and listened in.

“...bought all five of them from Emma. She said he already ate three while he was with her but then he ran off, said he was looking for his friends,” the man grinned devilishly. “He will be so out of his mind that he won’t even realize he’ll be taken for ransom.”

Raven knitted her eyebrows together, curious as to who they were talking about. 

“Is there anything I can do?” Azazel asked in a hushed tone.

The man’s grin became wider, eviler. “Just make sure no one interferes.” The man’s eye caught Raven’s and she soon dashed away from the scene, hiding herself in another crowd where she changed into an older looking man and made her way over to the bar. 

“I’ll take a margarita please,” she told the bartender before glancing over her shoulder, seeing the man was still looking around for her, Azazel right by his side, helping him.

“That was close,” she mumbled to herself before taking her margarita and gulping about half of it down. 

Someone most certainly was in danger and she really needed to find Charles. If he wasn’t shitfaced that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify (just in case) when Raven says “unlike some telepaths” she’s referring to Charles
> 
> Anyway,
> 
> Is Sean in danger? Will Raven get to Charles in time? 
> 
> Find out in the next chapter (who’s POV is next?)!!


	4. A Taste of Freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angel’s POV!!! Some characters are introduced as well as hints of some character’s intentions!!

Angel watched as Emma dragged another poor soul into her lair. “God, that poor boy,” she sighed as she watched a joyous redhead follower her like a puppy dog. “More leverage on an innocent person and more money for Shaw,” she enthused dryly. 

“That’s Shaw for you.” The busboy, Darwin, was wiping down a nearby table after some idiot got crazy over another girl and spilled his drink all over the table and onto the carpet. “Using people to get money,” he finished wiping off the table and approached Angel, smiling up at her. “If I were you, I’d get back to work before bossman notices and gets us both fired.”

Angel grinned down at him. “That doesn’t sound so bad to me.” She knew she couldn’t lose her job though, she had no other ways to support herself financially if she did. Stripping paid well and she got to keep all of her tips, the only problem was Sebastian Shaw was a complete and utter jackass to work for. His girlfriend made it no fun either.

“Angel!” She gritted her teeth before turning around at the floor manager, Janos. “You got two in booth four.” Angel rolled her eyes and stepped down from the stage, making her way over to the booth when Janos grabbed her by the arm. “Wipe that scowl off of your face,” he hissed, “these are paying customers.”

Angel yanked her arm out of his grip. “Didn’t you used to strip here before your promotion?” She chided before heading into the booth, opening and shutting the velvet curtains behind her. There, on the bed, were two men, both nicely dressed in suits. Must be business owners. Good tip money. One was soft looking with kind blue eyes and the other was strikingly good looking but looked a little sinister. “You know it’s double for both, right?” Suddenly, the former man changed appearance, wearing a short, bright orange wig, and a blue sequined dress, making Angel giggle. “How’d you do that?”

“You have your tricks and I have mine,” the softer of the men grinned, then looked over at the man next to him.

“More tea, vicar?” Angel’s eyes went wide as she watched the bucket of champagne float in the air. 

They were mutants. They were _like_ her. 

“We’re mutants, just like you. My name is Charles Xavier and this is Erik Lehnsherr. We have a safe space for you, Angel, back in Westchester where there are many more just like you.” 

Angel felt tears of joy sting at her eyes and she let the markings on her arms free, spreading her wings for them to see, starting to float in the air. Charles and Erik exchanged a knowing look, making Angel speculate what relationship those two had. 

“Are you two together?”

Charles blushed immediately at the question and Erik started to get defensive. “We’re friends.” Angel nodded, not wanting to argue, and excused herself before leaving the two men alone.

She felt a rush of excitement run through her when she excited the booth and made her way over to the private quarters of the club to pack up her stuff.

Angel was free. 

She could finally leave the hell hole of the Hellfire Club and move on with her life. She couldn’t wait to tell Darwin, he’ll be so happy to hear the news because he can definitely come with her and leave this place too, and Angel absolutely could not _wait_ to tell Emma Frost as well as Sebastian Shaw off. 

“What do you look so damn happy for?” Janos’ words snapped Angel out of her thoughts as she realized she nearly ran into him. 

“I quit,” she beamed proudly.

Janos cocked an eyebrow, looking at her disbelieving, before barking out a sharp laugh. “Please Angel, don’t kid yourself. Last time I checked you and that boyfriend of yours have nowhere to go,” his tone was condescending, she wanted to slap him.

“Well Janos, not that it’s any of your business, but I’m getting out of here and you can’t do a single thing to stop me.”

“We’ll see about that,” he grabbed onto her elbow roughly and guided her in the direction of Emma’s office, Angel started to drag her feet on the ground to get him to stop, but Janos was much stronger than her. He barged into Emma’s office and practically threw her on the ground. “I’ll let you deal with her.”

Emma gave a nod to Janos, dismissing him from the room, and landed her eyes on Angel. “Is there a problem?”

“Unless you count me quitting, then no, there is no problem,” she said with confidence, not letting herself stay here any longer, no matter what.

“You’re quitting?” Angel nodded. “Why? Last time I checked, you needed this job, Angel. I’m a bit disappointed, you were one of our finest workers.” 

Angel started to feel confused. Did Emma want her to stay? 

“You’re not going to fight it?” 

Emma sat herself comfortably on her desk, crossing her legs and tucking her white mini skirt down in the process. She leaned back on the desk, acting like she owned this place. “Why should I? You’re stubborn, Angel. You don’t want to stay here, Darwin doesn’t want you or himself here either, you have every right to leave. Don’t be so confused,” she playfully rolled her eyes and smiled _almost_ sweetly at Angel. She had no idea Emma Frost could ever be sweet. “I know all about those two men who came to visit you. They’re taking you out of here and I’m coming with you.”

Angel stared back at Emma, baffled. “You-you want to leave? Come with me and Darwin?”

“Yes, why do you sound so surprised? You think working _with_ Sebastian is what I want to do?” Emma made it very clear where her position stood, as if Angel didn’t already know. “Watching him take this place down since he doesn’t know how to conduct a business?” She shook her head at her own words. “I want to leave Sebastian as much as any person.”

“But aren’t you two like...together?”

Emma scoffed. “I can’t believe you’d lower me to such standards as Sebastian Shaw! I think you’re forgetting I’m a telepath, darling. I can make him believe whatever he wants.”

Angel opened her mouth to say more, but before she could do so, the talk of the hour showed up, striding over to Emma and giving her a sloppy kiss on the lips. So much for not being together. 

Shaw took his eyes off of Emma and over to Angel, an unsettling feeling resting in her stomach as he gazed upon her. “Do you need something?”

“Angel came in to inform me her and Darwin are both quitting,” Emma answered for her, getting Shaw’s attention back on her. 

“Is that so?” Shaw looked over at Angel sinisterly while Emma winked at her. “Fine! Leave! I already found your replacement. I slipped something in his drink a while back, he’ll be bringing in a lot of new clients.” Angel’s gut started to clench, she could tell something was off about that news.

“You mean the friend of that redhead-Stan or Sean or whatever?” Emma grinned in a wicked way, she surely knew how to play her part, if she was playing one at least.

“Yes! The blonde one, not the brown haired guy with him, he’s too tall. I’m afraid he’ll hit the ceiling.”

Angel needed to get out of there, find Darwin and find these people Emma and Shaw were talking about to warn them. She cleared her throat loudly, getting both of their eyes on her. “Am I free to go now?”

“Yes yes,” Shaw shooed, “go collect your things, Darwin as well.” Angel gave a quick nod and nearly ran out of the room, heading back into the club scene to look for Darwin.

She finally spotted him in the back, cleaning up the bar counter. “Darwin!” She raced over to him, grabbing his attention immediately when he noticed her presence. “That redhead who followed Emma, did he leave?” He nodded. “And did you see two guys leave too? One blonde, one super tall with brown hair?”

“Yes, why-

“We need to go,” she grabbed his hand and started to tug at his arm, “now.”

“Angel, I can’t leave my job-

“Trust me, Emma and Shaw are not expecting us back anytime soon but if we don’t go now, those boys will be in trouble,” she said a bit frantically and Darwin set his rag down and followed her out of the club. 

Angel needed to find those boys before it was too late. _If_ she could find them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh should Emma be trusted?? What does Shaw want to do with Alex???
> 
> Who’s POV is next??
> 
> Find out in the next chapter!!


	5. What’s Vegas for without a little marriage?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the moment we’ve all been waiting for...
> 
> Charles and Erik get married!!!

Erik topped Charles’ glass off with their fifth, he believed, bottle of champagne before taking a sip from his own glass and drinking the warm liquid down with delight. 

They’ve officially recruited Angel which meant that they had one more person in the mansion to look after. Another one of their _children_ , as Charles liked to call them, so to speak. 

_Their_. No wonder everyone thought him and Charles are together, they practically act like they are.

“Charles,” Erik begun, escaping his thoughts, “are we an item?”

Charles giggled as he was clearly drunk and the statement did sound funny whether he was sober or not. “An item? No Erik, of course we’re not an item, we’re humans. Well, mutants really, and we have qualities that don’t make us objects although some do treat us as we were objects-objectify us.”

It was confirmed that Charles was clearly drunk.

“No, not a literal item, I mean are we together? As in a couple?” Charles’ face grew serious for a moment, before a sheepish smile started to spread across his face.

“Do you want us to be?”

Erik restrained from rolling his eyes at such an obvious question. _Of course_ he wanted to be with Charles, who wouldn’t? He was charming, intelligent, witty, painfully stubborn, and he was such a flirt, with nearly everyone but _especially_ Erik. Not that he minded, of course. He had been watching Charles flirt with others right in front of his eyes for nearly two years now and every single time he saw him do so he wanted to take him back to their hotel room and-

“Erik?” Charles waved his hand in front of his face, getting his attention once more. “Do you-

“Let’s get married,” he blurted before he even realized it. “Let’s get married, tonight, right now. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Charles stared back at Erik blankly as he wrapped his head around what Erik just asked him. His tongue darted out to wet those beautiful red lips of his and never once in his life had Erik been more jealous of someone’s tongue than he had right now. 

Fuck it.

He grabbed Charles by the front of his tie and pulled him into a bruising kiss. His lips were slick and tasted of champagne but Erik didn’t care because _he was kissing Charles_. All the late night chess games, the teasing, the subtle not so subtle flirting all led up to this moment and maybe they both just needed to get ridiculously drunk to make this happen.

Stars were clouding behind Erik’s eyes when he felt the swipe of Charles’ tongue against his lip and as if a hunger took over him, he himself started to dominate the kiss, sliding his own tongue into Charles’ mouth, exploring every inch of him that he will soon have memorized in no time. 

Air was foreign to both of them at this moment and if Erik died of suffocation, he would die a happy man. 

_Yes yes yes_ screamed into his mind and he new him and Charles were on the same page. 

_They were going to get married._

Erik didn’t want to break their kiss, didn’t want this moment to end, but he was so agonizingly close to marrying this man, he could have the rest of their lives to have moments like these. 

“Charles,” his name slipped out of his mouth like a prayer that was being answered, a wish that came true. “I want to do this properly.” He pressed a kiss to his forehead before pulling away and removing himself from the bed. He lifted his hand and got Charles to stand by the metal in his zipper before Erik himself got down on one knee and took his hand, a hand he had memorized like it was his own. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” An answer said without hesitation and Charles got down to his level and tightly wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight squeeze. Erik hadn’t been hugged since he was a young boy and how he never hugged Charles before was beyond him but he didn’t plan on letting go, ever.

-  
Today must’ve been Erik’s lucky day because there happened to be a chapel right across the street from the strip club. How convenient. 

He honestly didn’t remember going inside the neon pink building decorated with a bunch of hearts and Cupids _at all_ , but now he was standing in a room with a guy dressed up as Elvis Presley about to _marry_ them.

Erik honestly didn’t even know if the guy was an ordained minister but he couldn’t care less because he was going to _marry_ Charles and he didn’t want anything else in life. 

Charles’ hands were warm as they held onto Erik’s and he was secretly making their wedding rings out of a nail in one of the pewters, both of them sliding into Erik’s pocket as they waited. 

_Ready?_ Erik gave a nod and squeezed Charles’ hands as they both turned to look at the officiant. 

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join the marriage of-

“Charles Xavier.”

“Of Charles Xavier and-

“Erik Lehnsherr.”

“And Erik Lehnsherr. Do you two promise to honor, love, and cherik, excuse me, _cherish_ each other? To have and to hold? For sickness and in health till death do you part?”

Charles bit onto his lip, a cheeky grin starting to spread across his face. “I do.”

“I do,” Erik repeated and he felt his and Charles’ excitement starting to radiate through them. He slipped the rings out of his back pocket, not caring if the officiant could see if they were floating in the air, and slid them onto their fingers. 

“By the State of Nevada and by GetOrdained.com, I now pronounce you partners for life. You may now kiss.”

Loud bridal music started to radiate through the speakers that Erik was unaware were in the room and him and Charles exchanged their first kiss as a _married_ couple. 

“Should we go celebrate, _husband_?” Charles asked cheekily and Erik knew they would never hear the end of it from Raven.

-  
After a heated taxi ride back to the hotel, Erik could tell the driver found their kissing noises a bit annoying since the music in the cab kept getting louder and louder as the drive went on, they arrived back to the hotel. Erik picked Charles up bridal style and carried him back upstairs to their suite which they found empty. 

“Where is-

“There you two are!” Erik saw as Charles jumped when Raven appeared from upstairs, seeming sober. “I have been looking all over for you two! Where have you guys been?” Charles and Erik exchanged a look, making Raven furious. “Well?!”

Charles held up his hand, his ring shining brightly in the fluorescent lighting. “You tell us.”

Raven’s eyes glowed with excitement, the amber in them reflecting the light of a lantern, and she squealed in joy, bouncing on her heels. “Are those real?!” She grabbed Charles’ hand and examined the ring on his finger then grabbed ahold of Erik’s finger to see they were matching. “I’m going to get some champagne!”

She dashed off to the kitchen area of the suite and Erik turned to Charles, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and pressing their lips together in a passionate kiss. Some _alone_ time was needed and Erik must’ve projected that thought since Charles had pulled away, a gleam of lust in his eyes. “Raven!” He called out, not taking his eyes off of Erik’s, “Do you mind finding the others? We’d like to celebrate with them.”

“Okay!” Raven reappeared and set the champagne bottle down on the counter and looked over at the two mutants knowingly before walking over to the door. “Wait! Charles,” she whipped around and approached her brother, “someone’s in danger!”

As if a spell was keeping them together, Charles broke eye contact with Erik, who also came back to reality. “Raven, I’m sure whoever is in danger, the proper authorities will handle it. If someone was truly in danger, I think I’d know about it.” Raven crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance and huffed out of the suite, slamming the door behind her.

Erik would’ve normally questioned Charles’ attitude _sober_ , but he was far from that at this point, they both were. He scooped Charles up once again in his arms and sat him down comfortably on the pool table where there was still an unfinished game. “I’ve never done it on a pool table before,” he mused as he picked up the eight ball, feeling the weight of it in his hand. His mind started to race with numerous ideas on ways to take advantage of their current situation and before he knew it, Charles was pulling him down to lay on top of him, their hands starting to paw at each other’s clothes.

 _I love you_ flowed delicately into his mind like a stream in a quiet forest and Erik felt his chest fill with an indescribable warmth that made him feel loved all over. He projected his love back onto Charles, reciprocating that warmth he felt back onto him. 

The surface of the pool table was rough even through the fabric of Erik’s slacks but he couldn’t care less. As if fire was running through his blood, he felt a heat starting to pool inside his stomach and he _needed_ to feel Charles’ skin up against his, the smoothness, the delicacy that was Charles.

With only their ties loosened and a few buttons undone, they broke apart when the door to the suite opened and Raven returned with Hank and Alex. 

“Sean went to go find the aliens!” Hank nearly shrieked with joy in explanation for the boy’s absence. Erik could tell he was clearly drunk but the news he gave about Sean’s whereabouts weren’t the least bit striking. 

“Well I’m sure wherever Sean is, he’s having a good time!” Charles boasted as he stole a quick kiss from Erik and grabbed the bottle of champagne Raven brought out earlier. He popped the cork off with ease and raised the bottle in the air. “Cheers to Erik and I!” Charles gulped down a sip from the bottle before handing it to Erik who took a swig of his own before handing it back to him.

Erik watched as Charles clumsily poured everyone a glass and passed them out before returning back to Erik, his hands roaming over his chest. “Charles?” Erik rested his hands just a little bit below his waist and moved them around to Charles’ backside to grip him lightly through the fabric of his pants.

“Yes _husband_?” Charles giggled at the new pet name. 

“Do you know what my favorite band is?” Charles shook his head. “The one around your finger.”

The sound of Charles’ laughter and the brush of his lips was the last thing Erik remembered from that night. 

**_Now…_ **

Erik stared hazily down at his finger. He gave himself a mental pat on the back, the ring he created was very nice, he should look into doing metal work for a profession. 

“Erik?”

“Hm?” He didn’t take his eyes off of the ring but he felt a mental nudge and he looked over at Charles. His brown locks were sticking up in all sorts of directions, his lips were obscenely red per usual, and he had brown patches dancing across his neck. “What are those from?”

“What are what from?” Erik motioned to his neck which only made Charles confused. He got himself off of the pool table, Erik had no idea as to how he got up there, and walked off into the bathroom. “Erik!” Charles shrieked from the other room, making Raven jump awake. 

“Shut up, Charles!” Raven yelled back and rubbed at her eyes, looking over at Erik with annoyance. “Can you tell your husband to go back to sleep? I have a migraine that needs some tending,” she grumbled before curling herself back up like a cat and going back to sleep. 

_Husband?_

“Charles.” Erik stared back down at his hand and walked over into the bathroom, seeing Charles was examining his neck which was full of hickies. “Did I give you those?” He blushed at himself and when Charles turned to look at him, he started to feel nauseous. 

“I believe so. Erik? Are you alright?” Charles pressed his hand against Erik’s forehead and a warmth started to radiate through him and Erik leaned down for a kiss, but ending up puking all over Charles’ shirt.

So much for romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Erik, puking all over Charles...
> 
> Since we’re back to the “now”, what’s going to happen next? Who’s POV will be next??
> 
> Also the “cherik” part was just a typo that I left in there because why not!!


	6. Aliens and Adversaries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally Alex’s POV!!! Get ready for some slight humor, a tattoo reveal, and the intro to some angst! 
> 
> Enjoy!!

The sound of yelling annoyedly stirred Alex out of his sleep and he slowly opened his eyes. Half of his face was smushed against the glass table and he winced as he raised his head and painfully separated his cheek from the table. He rubbed at his face and jaw and released the champagne bottle, the contents of it spilling onto the floor.  
His head felt heavy and his eyes hurt as he tried to make out his surroundings.

He was in the hotel suite, he knew that much, and Hank was within arm’s reach of him, sprawled across the couch, deep in his own hungover slumber.

So much for him being one hundred percent responsible.

Alex sat up fully and cocked his head to see Erik and Charles talking, almost argumentatively. “Why are you shirtless?” Charles wasn’t out of shape, far from it, but Alex didn’t want to see his mentor shirtless. Something about it felt _weird_ , almost intimate as if he shouldn’t be seeing him shirtless. 

“Erik had a little..mishap,” he cleared his throat. Alex cocked an eyebrow. “He had a bit much to drink last night, as we all did, and well, he threw up on me.”

“Charles!” Erik nearly flushed crimson, glaring at the telepath. “He doesn’t need to know that!”

“Well, what was I supposed to tell him?”

Alex rolled his eyes and rubbed at his temples. _Of course_ Charles and Erik were arguing. Even with a hangover they still find something to dispute about. 

It wasn’t even the afternoon yet and Alex was already finding himself getting annoyed. Lovely. 

“I’m going to change my shirt and we all need to get up and moving, we have a plane to catch,” Charles announced tartly before disappearing upstairs. 

“He’s your husband,” Alex said to Erik’s sour face. He received a scowl from the older man before Erik walked off into the bathroom, probably to throw up again. 

Alex ran a hand over his face and looked around. Raven was still sound asleep, Sean wasn’t down here so Alex assumed he must be upstairs, and Hank was waking up, looking groggy. 

“Where are my glasses?” He fumbled around the couch and pulled out a crushed pair of glasses. “Shit.”

Normally, Alex would laugh at Hank swearing since it was a rare thing, but something felt _off._ His gut was telling him something, but he didn’t know what. 

“Where’s Sean?” 

He didn’t remember going back to the suite with him and Hank, then again, he didn’t remember a lot of things from the previous night. He remembered the strip club though and how Hank drank his whiskey, but everything that happened after that was hazy. Alex surely hoped that Sean was upstairs, but he wasn’t sure that he was. 

“I don’t know,” Hank ran a hand through his own hair before straightening his tie. “I don’t remember anything, do you? God, my ass is killing me.” Alex laughed at that and Hank shot him a look. “What? It does. It feels sore like I bruised it or something.”

Alex shrugged off his concerns and eventually stood up, stretching his limbs from the uncomfortable position he was sleeping in. “I’m sure you’re fine,” he looked over at Raven, who was still curled comfortably on the loveseat. “Raven,” he shook at her shoulder, “wake up.”

Slits of amber glared up at Alex. “I already had to wake up to my brother yelling, don’t wake me up again,” she muttered sleepily before closing her eyes again.

“Sean’s missing, we need to go find him.” Raven’s eyes snapped open as if she remembered something.

“Azazel! I knew he was hiding something!” She jumped out of the couch and raced out of the hotel suite.

“Who’s Azazel?” Hank asked and Alex turned around to look at him, seeing his pupils were completely blown. 

“Are you high?”

“I most certainly hope not,” Charles answered, reappearing and handing Hank his spare glasses. “I hope none of you ever had a single drug in your life. They’re very bad for you,” he sauntered over to the kitchen to make himself a hangover remedy. 

“Please Charles,” Erik came into view now, “I’m sure you’ve experimented while you were off at Oxford.” Charles rolled his eyes and shook his head at Erik. 

“Where’s Sean?” Alex repeated, starting to feel a slight worry that he wasn’t here. 

“I don’t know, honestly. The last time I saw him, he was here, but that was before Erik and I left.” Charles poured some oil and juice into a glass before drinking it, some hangover remedy Alex assumed but the odd maroon color the glass made made him gag. “Erik and I will stay here and wait to see if he returns and please do hurry, we have a flight to catch in about an hour.” 

Alex knew they wouldn’t be able to make that flight, but he turned to look at Hank. “Lets go retrace our steps.” 

They were the last two to see Sean, they _had_ to find him. 

-  
Alex leaned up against the elevator wall as it slowly descended down to the main floor. He rubbed at his eyes as his head was pounding from whatever alcohol he consumed last night. Hank, who was standing not too far away, looking completely out of it. 

“Are you alright?”

Hank gave a slow nod, looking over at Alex with a dazed look. “I feel out of it.”

“Yeah well, you look out of it,” he replied bluntly and Hank was with it enough to shoot him a look. “Hey, don’t get mad at me,” he put his hands up defensively.

“Well I am mad at you.” Hank crossed his arms over his chest and Alex felt himself already starting to get annoyed. 

“Why?”

“Well for one thing, you ordered vodka.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “No one said you had to drink it, Bozo,” he snapped. “Besides, from what I recall you drank my fucking whiskey so we’re even.” He remembered how Hank just took his whiskey right out of his hands at the strip club-

Sean was _with_ them at the strip club. 

“Strip club,” he felt himself starting to smile. “Sean’s at the strip club.”

Hank barked out a laugh. “Of course he is. So you can go on in there, get him, and we can leave.”

“Me? You want me to go in there _alone_ and get him?” Hank nodded. “No. We went in there together so we go get him together.”

“I’m not going into some strip club! I don’t even remember going into one in the first place!” Hank exclaimed and the elevator doors chimed open. 

“How do you not remember?! It was just-

“It’s you two again.”

Both Hank and Alex turned their heads away from each other to see a tall, very buff, slightly angered looking man standing a couple feet in front of them.

“I’m sorry but do we know you?” Hank asked, not trying to sound rude. 

The man snorted. “Ya don’t remember me? Well, I certainly remember you two.”

“From the strip club?” Alex didn’t remember seeing this guy at all, but maybe they did something at the strip club they don’t remember doing.

“Strip club? I don’t know about any strip club. I’m talking about my shop.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow. “Shop?”

“Tattoo shop,” he finished. “Ya guys got short-term memory or somethin’?”

Alex looked over at Hank for some sort of explanation. Hank, however, was too busy pulling up his arm and pant legs, checking his body for any signs of a tattoo. “It’s not me,” he sighed in relief. 

“Sure it is kid,” the man said highly amused. “It’s just no where visible.” Alex put his hand over his mouth to silence his laugh. 

Hank got a _tattoo_. Oh Alex was definitely not about to let him live this down.

“I-I have a tattoo?” Hank’s face became a very close shade to white and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. His eyes slowly met Alex’s again. “This is your fault!” 

Of course, leave it up to Hank to blame Alex on something he _didn’t_ do.

“My fault? How the hell is this _my_ fault?!” He took a step closer to him, glaring up at Hank since he had a few inches, unfortunately, on Alex. 

“Because if you never got those shots in the first place, none of this would’ve happened! You should’ve left me in my room!” Alex shook his head at him in disbelief. 

“Sorry for trying to be nice and include you in things!”

Hank scoffed. “You being nice? Please Alex, when have you ever been nice?” 

Alex balled up his fists in anger and he felt his veins heat up as the plasma made its way up his arms and into his shoulders, slowly filling up the center of his chest, waiting to blast. 

“Fuc-

“Enough!” The man hollered but Alex didn’t take his glare off of Hank. “Both of you can it before you wake up the whole damn state of Nevada.”

Alex swallowed down his anger and the slight hurt he felt from Hank’s words and got his head back on the plan: Sean. 

He finally took his eyes away from Hank and looked over at the man. “Was it just the two of us in your shop?”

“No, you brought that loud kid in with ya. He ate a brownie and talked about aliens and wizards or something.” 

Alex sighed to himself. Sean was most definitely high. “Did he leave with us? Say where we were going?”

“He left before you even got the tattoo.” 

“Shit.” Alex ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of where Sean could be. “Thanks though.” He gave the man a nod and he got a hand in return. 

“The name’s Logan and if this kid ever wants a touch up on his tattoo, let me know so I can have a mop ready,” he joked.

“A mop?” Alex asked, amused.

“Yeah, he cried the whole time during the tattoo.” Alex looked over at Hank who’s face had lost its pale color and became more red. He was definitely not going to let him live this down. 

Hank cleared his throat and grabbed Alex’s arm a bit tightly. “Thanks again Logan for everything,” he dragged Alex out of view and out of sight from everyone else. “I need a favor.”

Alex crossed his arms over his chest, standing his ground. “No.” 

“Alex, look I’m sorry. I was mad and I didn’t mean it.” Alex stared up into his bright eyes and sighed. 

“Fine, what is it?” 

“I think I know where my tattoo is and I need you to look to _confirm_ it.” Alex gave a nod and he felt his cheeks heat up slightly when Hank started to unbuckle his pants and turned around, pulling down his boxers.

 _Oh._ Alex was _not_ expecting to see what he saw. 

Firstly, he was surprised that he was staring at Hank’s ass, not that he minded, but what he couldn’t stop looking at was the portrait of Albert Einstein resting on his right butt cheek. 

“You’re quiet. Is it bad? Please don’t tell me it’s something in another language that has a totally different meaning than what it’s supposed to be.”

“Uh,” Alex cocked his head to the side, “no.” Hank breathed a sigh of relief. “You might actually like it. Kinda up your alley.” 

Hank peered from over his shoulder. “What is it?”

“It’s a portrait of Albert Einstein,” he stated bluntly. 

“Oh.” Hank hiked his pants back up and made himself presentable again. “You sure?”

Alex knitted his eyebrows together, giving Hank a weird look. “Yes I’m sure. It’s Einstein on your right ass cheek. Can’t make that up.” 

Hank gave a slow nod of understanding. “Can this stay between us?”

“The tattoo or you giving me permission to look at your ass?” 

Hank shot him a look. “The tattoo. Come on,” he grabbed his arm again, “I think I know where Sean is.” 

-  
Area 51. Why didn’t Alex think of that? Maybe Hank was Einstein after all.

They took a cab there, a very long cab ride at that, and soon enough they were in a desert that looked like it was the middle of nowhere. Except for the fact that there was a swarm of people there, all wearing fancy suits and holding clipboards. 

“Must be douchey business owners go to desert day,” Alex joked and looked at Hank who wasn’t listening at all, he was staring with awe at everything and everyone. 

“They’re NASA.” 

Alex grunted. “NASA? What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” Hank started to walk away but Alex grabbed him by the arm. 

“Where do you think you’re going? We need to look for Sean,” he reminded him but Hank shrugged out of his grip. 

“You go look for Sean. I’m going to stay here.” He started to walk off again but Alex grabbed his arm once more, pulling him back. 

“You can’t just stay here, Hank. We need to find Sean and get back to Charles so we can all go home.”

Hank shook his head and maneuvered his way out of Alex’s grip once more. “I’m not going home.”

“What do you mean you’re not going home? You can’t just stay here-

“Why can’t I?” Hank interjected in a sharp tone. “Why can’t I stay here?”

“Because-

“Because what? People will miss me?” Hank shook his head once more, looking down at Alex with hurt and anger. “No one gives a _damn_ about me. All I am is the guy with the big brains, the kid whose feet look weird. I was off into college before I could even finish puberty since my parents didn’t want me around. Face it Alex, I’m unwanted.”

Alex shook his head, denying his words. “That’s not true.

“It’s not?” Hank’s eyes were shining with tears now. “I invented the most powerful machine and no one cares. Nobody.” 

Alex felt something odd, a foreign feeling fill inside of his chest. He _knew_ what it was like to be in Hank’s shoes. God did he know. 

“Charles cares about you, Hank. You’re like a son to him,” Alex began. “If you were missing do you know how devastated he would be? He wouldn’t be able to sleep with himself knowing you were out in the world, possibly in danger.”

“That’s one person.”

“I’m not done.” Hank stopped talking and Alex continued. “Erik would nearly kill anyone for you. Sure he’s not great on affection but he cares about you. Raven especially since you’re like her best friend and Sean wouldn’t know what to do with himself if you were gone. They all care about you, Hank and if you leave, you’re taking a piece of them with you.”

Hank gave a slow nod as if he was contemplating Alex’s words as his eyes pierced through him. “And you?”

“What about me?”

“Would you care if I left?”

Alex took in a breath that he didn’t dare let out. This was his chance to finally say something, to be _honest_ with Hank. Their previous fight ran through his mind and the words that Hank said cut through him like a knife. 

_When have you ever been nice?_

He knew if he told Hank how he really felt, he’d be rejected and Alex couldn’t have that.

“No,” he finally replied. “You mean nothing to me.” Alex looked away from Hank and he turned around and walked in the other direction, trying to see if Sean was here.

Alex felt his chest ache at his own words. _Nothing_ was what he said but he meant _everything._

His vision was clouding with tears and he didn’t know where he was going at this point but Alex didn’t care, he just needed to find Sean and get out. 

“Alex.” He recognized Hank’s voice behind him but he didn’t turn around to acknowledge it, he kept walking until he bumped into something or rather someone.

It was a police officer and he had a dog right next to him who started to bark at Alex, a clear sign that he smelled something. “Sir, please empty your pockets.” 

Alex did as he was told, emptying his front pockets, which were empty, and then his back ones. His hand enclosed around a plastic bag that contained two brownies that reeked of weed. 

“Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh these boys...
> 
> Is Alex going to be in some legal trouble? What do you think of Hank’s new tattoo?
> 
> Who’s POV will be next??? Any thoughts on what will happen next?


	7. Urinating for Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hank’s POV once again!! What kind of legal trouble are they in for?

Hank paced back and forth around the small holding cell him and Alex were being placed in temporarily. 

_Temporarily._ He was so going to jail.

“Why me?” He groaned and slumped down on a bench, sitting a few feet away from Alex as well as the scary looking people around them. Hank was slightly mad at him from their previous fight, but he didn’t seem to care at the moment because he was in a holding cell, awaiting possible prison time. 

The thing was Hank didn’t even have the weed in his possession, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. If he went to prison, he most certainly would die. Inmates would probably get a real kick out of the tattoo on his ass too. He was never going to drink again. 

He looked over at Alex, who was focused on picking at his cuticles. “How is it that you’ve managed to get a hold of weed brownies?”

“I must’ve took them from Sean,” he mumbled.

“Did you eat one?” 

“No, but you almost did.” Hank knitted his eyebrows together in confusion, he didn’t remember trying to eat one, then again he didn’t remember a single thing. “I took it away from you before you could though.” He found it odd that Alex remembered _that_ detail, but not others. Maybe things were slowly coming back for him but Hank still didn’t remember a single thing. 

“Why-

Before Hank could finish what he was about to say, the door to the holding cell opened and a woman with soft, blunt brown hair stepped in. Her eyes scanned the room before landing on Hank and Alex. “Henry McCoy and Alexander Summers?” 

“Yes, that’s us.” Hank stood up, exchanging a cautious glance with Alex, who stood up too. “Are we in trouble?” 

The woman pursed her lips. “Depends, follow me.” 

Hank did as he was told and Alex followed him. They were led down a plain hallway into an interrogation room, both of them being handcuffed to the table. 

“Can I get you boys anything? Coffee? Water?” They both shook their heads and the woman sat down across from them, folding her hands together and resting them on the table. “Well boys, what brings you two to Vegas?”

“Who are you?” Alex countered a bit angrily. 

The woman smiled sweetly and stuck out her hand. “I’m Moira MacTaggert. I work for the CIA.”

“Oh really?” Alex chuckled and leaned forward. “What do you want with Hank and I then?”

“Well, Mr. Summers, you and Mr. McCoy had these in your possession,” Moira pulled out the bag of weed brownies. “Where did you obtain these?”

“They’re not ours,” Hank chimed in, receiving a glare from Alex. “They were given to our friend.” Why was Alex glaring at him? What did he do this time?

Moira nodded in understanding, Hank wasn’t sure if she believed them or not. “And this friend of yours, where did they get them?” 

“From me.” Hank’s head snapped so fast to look at Alex, he could’ve given himself whiplash. “They’re mine, all mine.”

Hank stared at him wildly. Why was Alex _lying_? 

“Can you give us a minute?” He asked Moira, who agreed and took a step outside of the room. “Alex, what are you doing?”

“Taking the fall,” he replied like it was obvious. 

“Are you insane?! We don’t know where Sean got those brownies from! We’re innocent!” 

Alex shook his head at him. “Yeah well, since when have cops ever sided with us? They were in my possession, Hank, not yours. I’ll get two years in jail minimum if they don’t see it as a misdemeanor.” 

“You can’t just take the fall for something you didn’t do! We can just tell Moira the whole story and she will let us off,” he pleaded. “Alex please, this isn’t worth it,” he begged. Alex ignored him and before he could say more, Moira walked back in. 

“Mr. Summers, who is your dealer?”

Alex looked confused for a moment as if he was thinking of a fake name. “No dealer, made them myself. Got a knack for growing and baking.”

“Interesting,” Moira pulled out a Manila envelope, filled with lots of paperwork, “because the ingredients in your brownies are extremely similar to the brownies Sebastian Shaw makes and sells.”

“Who?” Hank and Alex blurted together.

Moira looked at them both with slight surprise. “Who really gave you those brownies, Mr. Summers?”

“Our friend got them from a club,” Alex finally confessed and Hank nodded in agreement. 

“Hellfire?” Moira asked and Alex shrugged.

“Maybe? I got a drink from there, but I didn’t have any brownies.” Alex looked over at Hank. “He drank it though.” 

Moira didn’t say anything and stood up again, walking out of the room and returning with two small cups and bottles of water. “Prove it.” 

Hank took the cup and studied it in his hands. “You want us to pee?” Moira nodded and left the room again, closing the door behind her this time. “This is insane.”

“It’s just a drug test,” Alex opened up a bottle of water and drank about half of it in one gulp. “Besides, not like you’ll have anything in your system.” Hank sighed and grabbed the water bottle, taking a long sip.

Here goes nothing.

-  
After about five water bottles, two samples of pee, and three hours later, Moira returned to the room with sheets of paper, shielding them from Hank and Alex’s prying eyes. 

“Well, good news,” she set the papers down, “neither of you had marijuana in your system which verifies your story.”

Hank smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t going to jail after all.

“However,” she continued and her eyes landed on Hank, “you, Mr. McCoy, have rohypnol, the main ingredient in most date rape drugs.”

“Oh my god.” It was in the whiskey. The whiskey was roofied. _Hank drank the whiskey_. “That was your whiskey,” he looked over at Alex. “Someone was trying to drug you.”

“Precisely,” Moira agreed. “Well boys, you are both free to go.” She unlocked their handcuffs. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Hank stared back at her with bewilderment. “What about Shaw? He just tried to drug Alex! Aren’t you going to do anything?!”

“We already have an agent keeping an eye on him, Mr. Summers will be fine.” Moira left the room, her heels clicking down the hallway as she walked out. 

Hank ran a hand through his hair, trying to wrap his head around the information he was just given. “What do we do?”

“Go back to Hellfire, give this Shaw guy a taste of our own medicine.” Alex stood up and beckoned for Hank to follow. “Come on.”

“We can’t just go to Hellfire alone!”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say we were going alone,” he grabbed ahold of Hank’s arm and pulled him forward. “Come on, we need to go.” 

Hank let Alex drag him out of the county jail and the station was kind enough to give them a ride back to the hotel. Hank’s head was still swimming though. He had so many questions yet he didn’t know what to ask or where to even begin. 

He only understood one thing: Alex was about to take the fall for everything. Hank didn’t know what his reasoning was for that but he just _didn’t get it_.

“I don’t get you,” he said quietly to himself, but Alex must’ve heard since he was now looking at him. “I don’t get you, Alex. You’re just so infuriating. You say one thing yet do another and it’s just so...confusing. You’re confusing.”

Alex grunted in amusement. “Okay.”

“I’m serious,” he turned his body more to face him, “You say I mean nothing to you yet you saved me from not eating a pot brownie, you don’t want me to leave, and you nearly gave just yourself up to Moira. I don’t get it.” Alex avoided looking at him, turning his head to look out the window instead. “Alex-

“Just forget it, alright?” Alex snapped, his face starting to get red with anger. 

“No. I’m not just going to forget it. I’m so sick of this back and forth with you, Alex. All the mixed signals-

“Mixed signals?!” Alex nearly shouted, catching the attention of the police officer driving. “I’m sending out mixed signals?!”

“Yes!”

The police officer stopped at a red light, turning around to face them. “You boys keep it down back there. I know you’re not criminals but you’re going to give me a headache.”

“You act like you want nothing to do with me!” Hank continued, ignoring the police officer’s request. “Then the next minute you act like my friend, like you genuinely like me, and the next minute you’re back to hating me again. I don’t get it!”

Alex rolled his eyes, shaking his head at him. “There’s nothing to get, Hank! Can you just fucking drop it?!”

“No!” Hank could see Alex was balling up his fists, possibly getting ready to punch him. “I’m not just going to _fucking_ drop it! Why can’t you just tell me the truth?! Give me some sort of explanation?!”

Alex turned his body towards Hank now, giving him his full attention. “You want an explanation? You want the truth?!”

“Yes!” 

“I’ve tried to hint it to you so _many_ damn times already but you can’t seem to get it! You’re so completely oblivious to everything!”

“Like that’s my fault?!” Hank retorted. “I’m not a telepath, Alex! You can’t expect me to be able to read you like a book!”

Alex tugged at his own hair in frustration. “No one said you had to be! For fuck sakes Hank, I like you, alright? I like you, I like your smile, your laugh, your surprising wicked sense of humor, how kind you are, and always give people the benefit of the doubt. I like you, Hank. _Everything_ about you.”

Hank stared at him, dumbfounded. Alex _liked_ him. His mind started racing on how Alex behaved around him recently, how it all actually made sense. 

Before he could say anything though, the car came to a stop and Alex raced out of the police car so fast, Hank didn’t get a chance to catch up to him. He lost him in the swarm of people and a sense of worry started to swell up inside of him. 

He needed to find Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh these boys...
> 
> Will Hank find Alex before it’s too late? Why did Shaw spike Alex’s whiskey? What does he want with him? Who do you think is the agent keeping an eye on Shaw?


	8. Charles the Counselor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Charles’ POV!!!
> 
> You’ll see him and Erik are adjusting to married life pretty well...

Charles didn’t take his eyes off of the door for what seemed like hours, but he knew it had only been minutes. His head was still pounding, but it had lessened over the past couple of hours. He still couldn’t use his telepathy without feeling a great amount of pain, which meant finding Sean was still delayed.

“You were right,” he muttered quietly, knowing Erik was sitting close by. “This was a horrible idea, bringing everyone here. How could I have let this happen?” He turned towards Erik, who was already looking at him. “Sean is _missing_ , Erik. He’s missing and it’s all my fault.”

“Charles,” Erik got up from the couch and walked behind Charles, gently placing his hands on his shoulders, massaging them slowly, “you didn’t know any of this would happen. It’s not your fault,” he pressed a kiss to his head and gave his shoulders a squeeze. 

Charles shook his head at his words, not really sure if he should believe he wasn’t to blame for all of this. “It should’ve just been the two of us. Leave everyone else at home.”

“And come back to the mansion being rubble?” Erik poked at lightly. “You said it yourself, they _needed_ this trip. Yes, some bad things happened, but _we_ can fix them. Together.”

A small smile played at his lips and he looked up at Erik, hopeful. “How is it you always know what to say?”

“I’m your husband now, Charles,” he beamed and crouched down to his level, “I always know what to say.” Erik leaned forward and rested his hand against his cheek, kissing Charles delicately on the lips.

Charles could _definitely_ get used to being married.

The sound of the door opening made them break apart and Charles hoped it would be Sean returning, but Hank slowly walked in, looking a bit confused and sad. 

“Hank,” his eyes met Charles’, barely, “everything alright? Where’s Alex? Wasn’t he with you?” 

“He was, excuse me,” he headed upstairs without giving any further explanation, the sound of his door slamming shut was heard from downstairs.

Charles sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “I should go check on him,” he stood up and headed towards the stairs, turning back around to look at Erik once more. “Watch the door for me?”

“Of course,” he gave him a small smile which Charles returned before heading upstairs to talk to Hank.

His bedroom was easy to make out since it was the only one with the door closed. Charles knocked on the door a couple times, not getting an answer in reply. “Hank?” Charles knocked again. “May I come in?”

“Sure,” he heard quietly through the door and Charles entered.

Hank was sitting comfortably on his bed, a book in his hand, undisturbed. “ _The Once and Future King_ is one of my favorites.” Charles gestured to the book he was reading. 

“I see why, it’s very good,” Hank turned the page in his book, not even looking like he was actually reading it. “Wart is very relatable.”

“How so?” Charles closed the door behind him and leaned his back against it.

Hank shrugged as if he didn’t know the answer to his own statement. “You have this kid who’s teased mercifully yet he’s taken in by a mentor, Merlin, and no one believed in him besides Merlin. Then Wart gains enough confidence in himself and he _finally_ starts to believe in himself which caught the attention of Guinevere and despite who Wart was, she still accepted him and married him.”

“It’s the story of how anything is possible,” Charles agreed.

“Exactly!” Hank exclaimed, folding the page in his book and setting it down beside him, giving Charles his full attention. “Even when you think that the one thing you want isn’t possible, it somehow just happens and you’re so confused yet grateful, you don’t know what to do about it.” 

Charles gave a nod of understanding, approaching Hank’s bed and sitting down next to him. He felt a weird sensation when he sat on the mattress, wondering if all the beds were made out of water. Maybe they were, that would be fun to be on with Erik…

Right, Hank’s ordeal. Charles needed to get his head out of the gutter and save his honeymoon phase for when he was truly alone with Erik.

“Well, it’s what’s on the inside that counts,” he cleared his throat, regaining his composure. “Wart was described as being weak, but maybe Guinevere never saw him as that.”

Hank sighed a little defeatedly as he ran a hand through his hair. “I suppose, but it just doesn’t make sense. It sounds almost cliché even.”

Charles cocked an eyebrow, curious. “What’s cliché about it?”

“That the good guy gets the love interest they desire in the end. It’s not realistic.”

“Of course it’s not realistic, it’s a fictional story,” Charles amused lightly. “Real life isn’t, _your_ life isn’t. Your life is your story, you can live it any way you want it to go.” 

Hank nodded, starting to look down at his hands, fiddling with his thumbs. “What would you do if you were in my position? If you thought for so long that Erik didn’t like you yet you couldn’t help yourself from liking him and then you find out all of a sudden that he likes you. What do you do?”

“I would tell him that I reciprocate his feelings.” Charles studied Hank for a moment, trying to figure out who he was talking about. The only person that Hank had altercations with was Alex, who Charles knew used fighting as a way to be defensive and not let people get close to him and-Hank was talking about Alex. _Of course_ he was talking about Alex, it all made sense now. 

Maybe he was a little dense for a telepath...

“If you didn’t get a chance to?” Hank’s question snapped Charles back out of his thoughts and he smiled at Hank, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“Then I’d go to him, tell him how you feel before he gets the wrong idea.” Hank sucked in a breath and gave a brisk nod, but Charles could tell something was still unsettled with him. “Is there anything else bothering you?”

Hank met his eyes finally, seeing they were swimming with pain. “Nothing worth talking about.”

Charles placed his hand over his and squeezed it lightly. “Hank, you can talk to me about anything. I promise you it will stay between us.”

“I honestly question the way I’m seen to people.”

Charles knitted his eyebrows together, not really knowing what he meant by that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Hank took another deep, Charles could sense his nervousness, “I mean that I just feel like I don’t really belong. That I don’t need to be here, to be with people who I think don’t care if I’m there or not.”

“Hank,” Charles squeezed his hand again, his eyes softening as he looked at him, “I can reassure you that no one thinks that way about you. We all love you, Hank. We all care so much about you. I am very sorry to hear you feel that way but trust me, you’re loved, you’re welcomed, you’re _accepted_ here. If you ever have any doubts, ever, please do not hesitate to come speak with me, alright?”

Hank nodded and Charles gave him a hug. “Thank you, for everything.” Charles smiled before pulling away, receiving a smile in return.

“You should go, I believe someone needs you.” Hank nodded again, waving goodbye before exiting the room. 

Charles could _so_ be a relationship counselor. 

-  
Not even a full hour went by since Hank left but Sean _still_ wasn’t back. Charles started to feel his headache subside a little more, but it was still a little painful to reach out fully to find Sean.

“Ugh,” he groaned in frustration and stood up from the couch, starting to pace around the hotel room. “Ugh!” Erik raise an eyebrow at his behavior, an invitation for Charles to explain. “We can’t just sit around here and wait for Sean! We should go out and look for him!”

“I completely agree,” Erik stood up too, halting Charles in his place by taking his hands in his, massaging his knuckles. “The only problem with that is the fact that we have no idea where Sean went last night. He left with Hank and Alex and I take it Hank didn’t say where they went?” Charles shook his head. He should’ve asked Hank where they were while he still had him around. 

“I can’t think of where Sean might be though,” he sighed defeatedly to himself and slumped back down on the couch. “Where does a drunk, young man go in Vegas?”

Erik held back the urge to laugh at such a silly question, seeing Charles was still frustrated by this. “He could be anywhere, Charles.”

“So we should go out and look for him,” he stated firmly, standing up once again as if a confidence boosted him. “We already missed the damn flight and I am not leaving without Sean or anyone for that matter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any thoughts on where Charles and Erik will look first or where Sean might be?
> 
> Six more chapters and it will all be revealed!!!


	9. Confrontations and a Plan

Raven practically sped down the hall and over to the elevators, pressing the down button roughly for the elevator to open. She groaned and kicked at the wall, hearing a gasp come from someone next to her. She whipped around to see a family of three was looking at her with shock. Raven then realized she was in her natural form. 

“What? Have you never seen someone blue before?” The elevator dinged open and she stepped inside, going down to the lower levels where the spa was. “It’s the sixties, get with the times.” The elevator doors slowly shut on their shocked faces. 

Raven didn’t even care at the moment if people stared at her. _Let them stare_. She had nothing to hide. She was beautiful, she _knew_ she was beautiful, and she was about to get answers from Azazel, she _needed_ them. 

The elevators dinged open and she made her way over to the day spa, seeing the same receptionist was still there. This should be good. 

“Is there something I can help you with?” The receptionist pursed her lips as her eyes scanned over Raven, not recognizing her at all.

Raven rolled her eyes at the ladies ignorance, starting to head towards the room in which she knew Azazel was in. “Get with the times,” she called behind her and pushed the door open to Azazel’s room.

There, she saw Azazel talking with a woman with short brown hair, wearing a pantsuit. 

Raven cleared her throat, getting both of their attention. “I believe we need to discuss some things, Azazel,” she clipped.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” The pantsuit lady asked and Raven crossed her arms over her chest, standing her ground.

“I’m his-I could ask you the same question,” she retorted firmly. 

The pantsuit lady looked between Raven and Azazel before sighing. “I got a lead down at the police station anyway. Hopefully two of Shaw’s dealers,” she gave a nod to Azazel and Raven shot her a nasty look before she left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Raven-

“No, Azazel. You’re not going to talk till I’m done talking,” she demanded as she walked closer to him. “I want you to tell me the truth. Who was that man you were talking with, who was that lady, and who the hell did you have for ransom because one of my friends is missing and I think you have something to do with it!”

Azazel sighed and sat down on the massage bed, looking at Raven softly. “I cannot tell you any of that.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Raven,” Azazel cautiously took her hand in his, “I need you to keep this between us. You can’t tell anybody, alright?” Raven nodded and waited for him to continue. “I work for the CIA. That woman who was just in here was Agent Moira MacTaggert, my associate. Her and I have been trying to take down Sebastian Shaw for months now. He’s trying to collect people, use them to bring more business into his club.”

Raven knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. “Collect people? Like kidnapping?” 

“More of put them in a debt that will be impossible to get out of. They have this one kid being used for ransom, to get his buddy back to Hellfire,” Azazel shook his head. “It’s disgusting what he does.”

“What did the guy look like?” Raven’s stomach started to turn into knots and her gut was telling her something was wrong. She really hoped this Shaw guy wasn’t holding Sean for ransom, but it seemed like a definite possibility as to where Sean could be.

“Young, redhead.”

Raven felt her blood run cold. Shaw had Sean. 

“Sean,” she gasped. “He has Sean! Oh my god,” she sat down on the massage chair and ran her hands through her hair. “What does he want with Sean?”

Azazel crouched down to be level and took her hands in his in attempts to comfort her. “I don’t know, but I’m very sorry to hear about your friend. I will help you get him back, I promise.” Raven stared down at their hands, feeling her eyes starting to sting with tears. Sean was in danger and maybe Raven could’ve done something about it. “Shaw is a very dangerous man and I am not going to let you go alone.”

“I’m not alone.”

-  
Thanks to Azazel’s mutation, they got downstairs to the lobby in mere seconds, they already checked the suite to find it empty, and Raven started to search around frantically for Charles. “We need to find my brother. He has brown hair, blue eyes, British.”

“Brown hair, blue eyes, British,” Azazel repeated before poofing away. Raven honestly hated the smell of sulfur before, because who wouldn’t, but now she found herself loving it. She shook that thought away; Raven didn’t need to focus on Azazel, she needed to focus on finding Charles.

Raven was out front by the entrance, starting to head into the shopping district. On her way there, she felt a small part of her mind light up, something she recognized when Charles was always nearby. Raven halted in her place and looked around, scanning the crowd of people to see if she could spot Charles.

Her eyes landed on the fountain, seeing Erik and Charles were both standing next to it, seeming to be in the middle of a serious conversation. Raven breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a bit better as she saw the two of them.

“Charles!” She yelled out his name but he didn’t seem to hear her. Raven ran over to him, calling out his name the whole time till she looked at him.

“Raven? What’s-Ah!” Charles jumped back slightly when Azazel caught up with Raven, poofing next to her. “Who are you?”

“His name’s Azazel and he works for the CIA, but I’ll explain more later. But there’s this guy name Shaw, Sebastian Shaw, and he has Sean and he’s really dangerous.” Raven looked between Charles and Erik, seeing they were just staring back at her blankly. “Come on you guys! We have to go, now!”

Erik snapped out his daze first, his face starting to grow serious. “Where does he have him exactly?”

“Hellfire,” Azazel replied.

“That’s the same place where we recruited Angel,” Charle gasped and looked over at Erik with worry. “Sean wasn’t there when we were though, I’m sure of it,” he speculated. “We have to go and save him.”

Raven nodded in agreement. “We need Hank and Alex too, where are they?” Charles cleared his throat and looked down at the ground. “Well?”

“They sort of got into an _unintentional_ fight and well Hank went after Alex but I have no idea as to where they went,” he mumbled. “Or could’ve gone,” Charles added and Raven sighed.

“That’s okay, we can do this, just the four of us, right?” Raven looked over at Azazel for confirmation.

“Right,” Azazel agreed but still looked a little unsure. 

Raven groaned. “Come on you guys! We’re four mutants! I’m sure we can defeat whoever this Shaw guy is!”

“Well,” Azazel began and smiled apologetically to Raven since he _knew_ she wouldn’t be pleased with this news, “Shaw is a mutant himself, a very dangerous one, and his girlfriend is a telepath too.”

Raven gritted her teeth into a smile. “Great, just great! We have a telepath too but Charles is still hungover! We are completely fucked!”

“Hey!” Charles exclaimed defensively. “This isn’t my fault!”

“No one said it was-

“Enough!” Erik barked, getting everyone’s attention to focus on him. “Look, whoever this Shaw guy is, we can beat him. Sure it’s just the four of us, but we’re all pretty damn capable of rescuing someone. I can destroy any weapons they throw at us, Azazel, from the looks of it, can get us in almost anywhere, Raven you can turn into whoever you want, and Charles if need be _could_ get us in there without being seen,” he pointed out. “Yes we lost Hank and Alex, but _we can do this._ Together.”

 _Together_. Raven liked the sound of that. They haven’t done anything together, ever, but there was always a first for everything. 

“Alright boys,” she grinned, “time to kick Shaw’s ass and rescue Sean!”


	10. So Agonizingly Close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angel’s POV again!! Who will she stumble across?

Angel took one last look at her old station and smiled sadly at her reflection in the mirror. Sure Hellfire was possibly the worst place anyone could ever work at, but she grew accustomed here and would definitely miss some of the girls she met and the friendships she made. She flicked the iridescent stage lights dancing across her mirror off and gathered up the rest of her things in a box. She looked around her now dark fitting room and soaked up her surroundings as it would be the last time she’ll ever see them. 

She made her way over to the door, jumping back slightly when Darwin appeared out of nowhere. “Darwin,” she let out a small laugh, “you scared me. I’m so glad it was you and not Janos, that would’ve been a nightmare.” Janos was still highly against Angel quitting and moving out of state, but she didn’t care what he thought and would do what she wanted to do.

“Sorry about that,” he smiled apologetically, “but I think that guy you were telling me about is back, remember the one we couldn’t find the other day?”

Angel’s eyes went wide as she remembered overhearing what Shaw was telling Emma that day about kidnapping his friend in order to get the guy to work for him. “Where is he?” She shoved the box of her things to Darwin and brushed past him, scanning the crowd of the club to see it was filled with a bunch of sleazy older men as it always was. 

“The bar,” Darwin told her, coming into view again. “I was in the back, getting the last of my things when he came in again and ordered a glass of vodka. They took it in the back and drugged it, that’s when I knew it had to be the same guy.” Angel’s eyes went over to the bar, seeing a guy with a leather jacket on, shoulders sagged low, and a peak of blond hair sticking up that Angel could make out. 

“That’s him,” she gasped and grabbed Darwin’s arm, dragging him over to the bar with her. Angel halted when she came behind him, slowly walking over and sitting down next to him. The guy looked around her age, maybe a little younger even, and was cradling a glass of vodka which was already half empty. “Hey,” she slowly started, “I’m Angel.”

The boy turned his head to the side, giving her a sideways glance. “So?” He took a swig of his vodka, finishing off the glass before signaling the bartender for another. 

“Um,” she looked at Darwin for help before looking back at the boy, “Are you feeling alright?” She saw him take in a breath and shook his head. “Would you like to talk about it?”

The boy finally turned to face Angel head on, giving her a chance to see what he finally looked like. His face was quite handsome and he had very soft features. His eyes, however, were cloudy as if the drug was already starting to take effect. “Why would I want to talk about my problems with a complete stranger?” The boy looked between her and Darwin before scowling. 

Angel shrugged. “Maybe it will help you feel better, you never know.”

“Shouldn’t we just cut to the chase?” Darwin whispered in her ear but she shook her head and continued talking to the boy.

“Where’s your friend?” Angel remembered he was with someone else too that Shaw mentioned, besides that other kid Sean. She will mention him soon, she just wanted to ease up to it since he did not seem like in the mood for talking.

The boy grunted. “He’s not my friend, never was,” he chided as he took a sip from his fresh glass of vodka, looking at Angel with a weird expression. “How did you know I had a friend? Are you spying on me?” Angel shook her head.

“No, but I know what Shaw has planned for you and your friend Sean. If I were you, I would stop drinking that vodka,” she noted and the boy set the glass down. 

“You know Sean? Have you seen him? Is he alright?” The boy stood up and scanned around the club. “Is he here?”

“Angel, Janos is coming,” Darwin hissed to get her attention.

“Look, um I know where Sean is but you need to come with me right now, please,” she added and reached out and grabbed the boy’s arm. “I will help you, you just really need to come with me.”

The boy looked her over before shrugging out of her grip. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“Angel, Darwin!” Angel felt her blood run cold when she saw Shaw walk behind the boy, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “I see you’ve met your replacement,” he grin wickedly. 

“Replacement? Who the hell are you?” The boy looked at Shaw with disgust. 

“I’ll introduce myself to you later, Alex,” Shaw spoke of his name with such venom, it made Angel’s stomach turn, “as of right now, you will be taken to a nice comfy room, doesn’t that sound nice?” 

“Look man, I don’t know who the hell you think you are but I am not going anywhere with you or this Janos guy,” Alex brisked and shrugged his way out of Shaw’s grip.

Shaw looked rather pleased with himself as Janos came over, grabbing ahold of Alex roughly. “Thought you might say that,” a filthy smile fell onto his lips. “Don’t worry, Alex, you’ll find yourself loving this place very soon. Take him away.” Janos did as he was instructed, taking Alex out of sight, even despite his protests. 

“You’re absolutely disgusting, you know that?” Angel spat. “You’re going to get what’s coming to you, Sebastian. I hope you rot in hell.”

Shaw laughed. “I will miss your feistiness Angel, I really will.” His eyes lightened up with a sinister excitement and his smile grew nasty. “It appears I have a large group that needs attending to, excuse me,” he walked off towards the entrance. 

“We can’t let him get away with this,” Angel grabbed Darwin by the arm and started to lead him through the club. “We’re going to help Alex escape and then we’ll help him find Sean.”

“Angel,” Darwin stopped her in her tracks, getting her to turn around and face him. “We can’t just save him by ourselves, you know the two of us alone can’t stand against Shaw and his men.”

Angel sighed defeatedly, knowing he was right. “Then we have to find Charles and Erik, they’ll know what to do.” 

Suddenly, the other boy that Angel recognized from the other day that was with Alex came into view, looking frantic. “Have you seen my friend? Blond hair, blue eyes?” Angel heard him ask nearby, receiving no answer from anyone he asked.

“I know where Alex went,” Angel strode over to him, getting his attention immediately. “But Shaw took him before I could do anything and I will help you get him back, I will, we just need to find Charles and Erik first.”

“You know Charles and Erik?” Angel nodded and the boy’s eyes went wide. “You must be the new recruit! I’m Hank McCoy,” he stuck out his hand for her to take and offered it to Darwin too. “Right, well you see, I don’t know where Charles and Erik are at the moment-

“Hank!”

Angel had never been more happy to see four mutants in her whole entire life than she did now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They’re getting the gang together for a rescue mission!! Will they be able to save everyone in time?


	11. The Power of Poker (and Raven)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note:
> 
> I’ve never played a single game of poker ever in my life but my dad works at a casino so I “curiously” asked him how to play and he answered all of my questions on how to play and such. Little did he know the information would be going towards a fic ;)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!!!

An uneasiness formed in Erik’s stomach as soon as he stepped foot into Hellfire. This club was more appealing to him when he first arrived in Vegas, but now, the place absolutely disgusted him. “So this is the infamous Hellfire,” he scanned the club through squinted eyes, trying to see if he could feel out any possible weapons. He turned up his nose as the only smell was cheap liquor and sweat.

“This is Sebastian Shaw’s lair,” Azazel mused dryly, his eyes as well as everyone else’s scanning the venue as if they were seeing it in a new light. 

Raven grunted, getting all eyes on her. “Is that sleazeball him?” 

Everyone’s eyes moved to a man in an all white suit, wearing a white ascot like a fucking douchebag, or so Erik thought, and had the nastiest, filthiest looking smile he had ever seen on someone. He had light brown hair that was spiked up in a greasy manner and he sauntered over to them so cockily it made Erik’s blood boil. 

“Azazel! Lovely for you to return to us! And you’ve brought guests!” Shaw enthused and clasped his hands together in excitement as he looked over at Erik, Charles, and Raven. “You all are such a good looking bunch! What can I do for you all?”

Erik looked at him with a scowl, feeling himself get angrier and angrier by the second. “I think you know why we’re here,” he fumed. 

Shaw’s eyes turned fully onto Erik, a peculiar glint flashing over his cold eyes. “And you are?”

“Looking for someone,” he took a step closer to the wicked man, “I believe you know who.”

Shaw shrugged nonchalantly. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I have no idea as to who you’re talking about. But if any of you would like to have a word with me, I’m sure Azazel would be _happy_ to show you to my office,” he started to turn around but Erik forcefully reached out and yanked him back. 

“Listen here you piece of shit,” he spat literally in Shaw’s face, receiving a warning look from Charles that he shrugged off, “you know damn well that we came here for Sean and we are not leaving here without him.”

Shaw laughed loudly with amusement. “I don’t care about Sean, he was just bait for the real catch. But if I were you, I’d let me go before things get out of hand.”

Out of hand? Erik would show him out of hand.

There were yelps from the girls onstage as Erik twisted their poles and let some light fixtures fall onto the stage around them. 

“How fascinating! Was I supposed to be threatened?” Shaw mocked with another one of his smirks and Erik unlooped his belt and wrapped it around his throat.

“Erik!” Charles appeared next to him and put his hand on his arm. “Erik, let him go, please,” he begged and Erik tightened the belt around Shaw’s throat just a little bit tighter, enough to hear him gag and gasp for air. “Erik,” Charles warned firmly and Erik sighed, letting Shaw drop to the ground and starting to cough profusely. 

“I could’ve killed him,” he told Charles coldly as Shaw gathered himself to his feet and scowled at Erik.

“You all can see your way out,” he snapped as he ripped at that stupid ascot of his as he walked away.

“I know,” Charles shot him a look but smiled. 

“Hank!” Raven took everyone’s attention away from Shaw and Erik followed her gaze to see Hank was nearby, and so was Angel. 

“Oh thank god,” Charles breathed a sigh of relief and brushed past Erik, immediately examining Angel and Hank for any signs of injuries.

Something still sat in Erik’s gut, something was still off. He looked around the group of mutants and saw that Alex was nowhere in sight. “Hank, where’s Alex?”

“About that,” Angel interjected, “Shaw has him, somewhere in here. He was drugged,” she muttered quietly and looked at the guy next to her, who Erik didn’t recognize. “Darwin and I tried to get him out of the club, but it was too late. Janos already showed up with Shaw and took him.”

Erik turned to Azazel. “Any ideas on where he would’ve taken him?”

Azazel looked a little guilty as he nodded. “I know the room, it’s heavily guarded though, but I can surely get us in there.”

“No,” Charles shook his head at his plan. “We mustn’t split up. We need to take Shaw down first and then we can go save Alex.”

“I’ll go,” Hank piped up, all eyes turning to him. “I’ll go save Alex while you guys defeat Shaw. He hasn’t met me yet so he won’t know who I am.” Hank looked back at Charles, pleadingly. “I’ll go, you guys take down Shaw and get Sean back too.”

“Alright,” Charles agreed and in a blink of an eye, Hank and Azazel left, only Azazel returning seconds later. 

“By all means,” Erik gestured to Azazel, “lead the way.”

Azazel smirked and had everyone grab onto a part of him. “Gladly.”

The sudden movements and smell of sulfur made Erik feel a wave of nausea, but it quickly passed. They were in a large room, the walls were a puke green while the floors were polished wood, a matching desk and couch sat in the center of the room. 

“Shouldn’t he be in here?” Raven shifted into her human form, walking around the room to see it was empty. 

“He’ll be here,” Erik noted rather smugly, “I know he will be.”

As if on cue, the doors swung open and Shaw made his way inside his office, his eyes going wide again when he saw the group. “You’re all still here!” He enthused as he took a seat at his desk, sitting down comfortably in the oversized chair. “Please sit, make yourselves comfortable.”

Erik rolled his eyes and lifted Shaw’s chair up in the air by the metal screws and yanked him forward. “Cut to the chase, _Sebastian_ , give us Alex,” he demanded and Shaw laughed maniacally. 

“Oh Erik, you’re not very good on compromise, are you?” Shaw licked his lips and took his eyes off of Erik, scanning the crowd of mutants. “I’ll give you back Alex and Sean, _if_ you beat me in a game of poker.”

Erik snorted. “I know the game like the back of my hand.” His father was the one that taught him how to play when Erik was only six. He started to smile at the memory, but Shaw’s cheap cologne came into his senses and he remembered where he was.

“Not you,” Shaw snarled. “Him.”

Erik turned around to see he was talking about. His eyes went wide as he saw Hank standing there, did he forget the plan? Erik looked around to see that Alex wasn’t in sight...but neither was Raven. 

“Hank’s never played a single game of cards in his life,” he winked at Raven as he started to play along. “Don’t you think that’s unfair?” He looked back at Shaw, who shrugged.

“Poker isn’t my strong suit either, so no, it’s not unfair.”

“I-I’ll play you,” Raven imitated of Hank perfectly, slowly stepping forward. “I’m more of a scientist than a gambler, but I’ll give it a shot.”

Erik smirked at Shaw. “You heard the boy, let the game begin.”

-  
Azazel got the courtesy of shuffling the cards for the poker game Shaw and Raven were about to play. Erik’s glad Shaw didn’t notice Raven was a shapeshifter, or the fact that he didn’t ask where she went.

“You’ve played cards with her before, right?” Erik whispered to Charles, starting to rub his shoulders in attempts to not act suspicious. 

“Many times,” Charles turned around in his arms and smiled up at him. “Always beaten me nearly every time we’ve played. I had to make sure that she wasn’t placing any bets in school.” Erik breathed a sigh of relief and brushed a kiss against Charles’ forehead. “There shouldn’t be anything to worry about.” Erik let out a small laugh, he wished it was that easy to just _not_ worry. 

Erik gave a squeeze to Charles’ hand before walking over to the table, observing the game. He looked at Shaw to he was grinning as he set down his cards on the table. 

“Full House,” he sneered and Erik looked over at Raven, who blushed like Hank would and shakily set her cards down.

“Well, I-I think you beat me because I have no idea what these cards mean,” she muttered and Erik saw she had a Royal Flush. 

They won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they won the game!! Now what?


	12. Hank the Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Alex’s POV this time!!! Enjoy!!

Drowsiness overcame Alex when he opened his eyes, he didn’t even remember falling asleep. He slowly sat up and his head felt like it weighed over a thousand pounds, felt as heavy as solid cement. He looked around the room to see he was in a holding cell, reminding him of the cell he used to be in when he was in solitary confinement. The walls were gray and bleak, the only thing in the room was a single cot that Alex was sitting on, and the glass wall separating him from his freedom.

He slowly stood up and walked over to the wall, starting to bang on it in attempts to break it. “Hey! Hey!” Janos suddenly appeared and came face to face with Alex, shooting him a threatening glare. “Cut that shit out! This thing is bullet proof and nothing can break through it, no mutation, nothing,” he spat and Alex banged on it harder just to annoy him. “Don’t make me come in there and sedate you!”

“I’d beat the shit out of you if you did! What’s your mutation besides being a pain in the ass? You’re nothing more than a guy in a suit who looks like Fabio’s goth twin brother!” Last part came out more of a compliment than Alex intended it to, but he still got Janos riled up like he wanted. 

Janos practically growled and Alex bit back a laugh at how pathetic he sounded. “Listen here you prick,” he barked, “I am not stupid! Your reverse psychology will not work on me, kid. The only way you’ll get out of here is when Shaw is done killing off every single one of your little friends, got it?”

Alex crossed his arms over his chest, formed his usual pissed off look, and was about to spew the nastiest thing he could think of but something, or rather someone, caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure, a very familiar figure wearing the same white button down with a tie that they always wore, and the same pair of glasses that always made their eyes sparkle even more. 

It was Hank, he came to save him.

Alex bit back a grin when Hank gave him a signal to be quiet and started to speak. “Hey, um, I’m new here and you’re the floor manager, right?”

Janos turned away from Alex and looked over at Hank, scanning him up and down. “You must be new because I don’t recognize you. What’s your name?” 

“So you’re nice to him but not me?” Alex banged on the glass again, making Janos whip around and glare at him.

“Shut up you surfer douche!”

Alex scoffed. “I’m not a surfer douche! Fuck you man!” Hank shot him a look that quickly dropped when Janos turned back to him.

“Sorry about that, Shaw always has a thing for the feisty ones,” he laughed and Hank let out a small laugh too. “But what’s your name, kid?”

“Henry Phillips, janitor. I was hired very abruptly when Mr. Shaw took a visit to the Flamingo the other day with his lady. I guess he saw something in me that they didn’t,” he lied smoothly and Alex had to give him credit, Hank was a pretty good liar. “But you are floor manager, correct?” Janos nodded. “Well, I need you to clear off the middle stage since the fixtures and glass are scattered everywhere, don’t want anyone getting hurt. None of the girls listened to me either so I was hoping you could clear them off? I don’t mind staying in here in the meantime, keep an eye on things,” Hank looked back over at Alex. 

“Yeah sure, no problem. Careful with this one though, he’s an ass.” Alex flipped Janos off. “See?”

Hank let out a small laugh and casually walked over to the glass wall separating Alex from him. “He’s nothing I can’t handle,” he winked at Alex and looked to see Janos walk out of the room, closing the door behind him. “Okay he’s gone,” he started to feel the glass. “Do you know how to get out of this thing?”

“Janos said it’s bulletproof and no mutation can break it,” Alex kicked at the glass wall. 

“Have you tried?” Alex shook his head. “Maybe it’s worth a shot?”

“And have it ricochet and have me ended up being ashes? No thanks.” Alex went over to his cot and picked it up. “There’s gotta be someway to get out of here,” he rammed his cot at the glass but it didn’t even make a scratch. 

Hank examined outside the door but came up empty handed. “Alex, there’s no way to open the door from the inside, you’re going to have to try to blast through it.”

“But I’ll die.”

“No you won’t,” Hank reassured him firmly. “Don’t you trust me?” Alex nodded and took a deep breath, walking backwards till he reached the back wall of the cell. “You can do this, Alex.”

Alex closed his eyes. “And what if I don’t make it?”

“You will, I promise you.” 

Alex sucked in a breath and prepared himself. He felt the plasma boil in his veins as it made its way up his arms, into his shoulders, and filling up his chest. He figured he should’ve taken his shirt off before he did this but it was too late now and he was going to die anyway so he didn’t think it mattered. He blasted straight ahead, putting all of his energy into it. 

He slowly opened his eyes, seeing that the wall was down and Hank was beaming at him. “You’re fucking crazy,” he walked out of the holding cell and Hank engulfed him into the best hug Alex’s ever thought he had. He rested his head on his chest, closing his eyes again and taking in the clean scent that Hank always smelled of. 

Hank pulled away and took Alex’s face in his hands, running a hand through his hair. “Are you hurt?” Alex shook his head. “Do you feel okay?”

“I feel a bit hazy,” he admitted, “but nothing I can’t handle.” Alex smiled up at him, a small smile fell across Hank’s lips as well. “Hank, I’m sorry,” he began. “I should’ve never dragged you into this mess.”

“Alex, this isn’t your fault,” Alex opened his mouth to protest but Hank continued speaking, “I’m serious. Sure I made some very, extremely poor decisions, but none of it was your fault. There was only one decision I made that was the worst of them all and it wasn't doing this sooner.” Hank pulled him into a deep kiss, one of his hands moving its way down to his waist while the other remained on his cheek. 

Alex felt like the whole world just stopped moving, as if time froze around them. He wrapped his arms around Hank’s neck as he kissed him back, stars being the only thing he could see. 

“How romantic,” they pulled away to see a woman dressed in all white was looking at them icily, Janos right next to her. “Janos, I’ll handle these two, you go pretend like you never saw any of this.”

“I’ll go pretend like I saw none of this,” he repeated back to her and walked out of the room.

The woman smiled at them, almost in a warm manner. “Well boys are you just going to stand there or are you going to come with me?”

“Look lady, I don’t know who you think you are but we are not following you anywhere,” Alex chided.

The woman gave a slow nod, as if she understood, and took a step closer to them both. “I understand your speculation, Alex, but I think it’s best if you and Hank follow me. Unless you’d rather have Janos. I can easily make him remember again,” she smirked.

“No that’s okay, we’ll follow you,” Hank started to walk after her, but Alex stayed put. “Alex, come on.”

Alex shook his head, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the woman. “How do we know we can trust her? She could just be another one of Shaw’s associates.”

“Well, we really can’t,” Hank began. 

“Oh for heaven sakes,” the woman snapped. “I am helping you boys get out. Now you can choose to follow me or not, I honestly don’t care. It’s your call, sugar,” she clipped before turning around on her heel, starting to walk out. 

Hank looked over at Alex. “Don’t give me that look,” Alex grumbled and let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, we’ll follow the White Witch to our doom.” 

They followed the woman and she led them into another room, where everyone else was with Sebastian Shaw. Alex scanned the room, seeing there was another Hank. 

“Am I seeing things or is there another you?”

“Nope, there’s another me,” Hank replied and Emma hushed them.

“Do you boys want to get caught?” The woman hissed, catching the attention of Shaw.

“Emma!” His whole face lit up as he looked at the woman. “Wait a second,” his eyes landed on Hank then turned to the imitation of Hank in front of him. “You hustled me!”

The imitation Hank shifted into Raven, who grinned devilishly. “It was a fair game, Sebastian. Now, where’s Sean?”

“I don’t have Sean! I don’t even know who this Sean guy is!” Shaw exclaimed.

“Bullshit!” Alex stepped forward. “You gave him those brownies!”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have him. I did sell him brownies though,” Shaw agreed, “but he left at his own free will. I did have another guy walk in that looked like him, but it turns out he had no one valuable to me,” he drawled on. “Anyway, who wants to die first?”

“I say these two,” Emma piped up, grabbing Hank and Alex by the arm and walked them over to Azazel.

Alex shrugged out of her grip and looked over at Hank. “I told you we shouldn’t have followed her!”

“Alex, this isn’t the time nor the place to be discussing this right now,” Hank gave him a look but Alex winked, making him confused. 

“Yes it is! This lady just led us to our death!” Alex felt himself getting riled up and his plasma started to center in his chest, turning around to face Shaw and blasting it right at him.

Unfortunately and strangely, Shaw somehow captured Alex’s beam, shrinking it down to a ball. 

“Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can they escape Shaw now? Will they find Sean? Find out next week!!


	13. Brownie Alien Cassidy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting some answers!!!!!

“Now,” Shaw began evilly and everyone froze in their place. He was holding the ball of plasma in his hands, starting to walk closer to the group of mutants, his eyes scanning over them all as if he’s picking out his next prey, “who wants to die first? Any volunteers?” Shaw cocked an eyebrow and let out a sigh. “No? Well, looks like I’ll just have to choose. Let’s start with,” he looked over at Alex, then at Hank, then at Charles, who reached out to take Erik’s hand, giving it a squeeze, “you. You’ve been awfully quiet. Or should it be Erik since you don’t have to watch everyone else?” Shaw smirked nastily and looked over at Azazel, then Emma. “My darling Emma,” he walked even closer to her, “you can still take part in this, you know. We could’ve been so happy together. Have a couple of children, make a nice life.”

“I’m flattered you thought of us having a future together, Sebastian, but I would rather be torn apart limb by limb then spend another second with you,” Emma brisked and she glanced over at Charles, who soon felt a heavy weight leave his head and he felt a lot better than he did hours before. _You’re welcome_ flooded into his mind. _Grab onto Azazel, get everyone out of here, I’ll take care of Shaw._ “Sebastian,” Emma shifted into her diamond form, blocking Charles from having any further conversation with her, “how could you ever believe that a woman like me could ever love someone so vile as you?”

Shaw barked out a blood curdling laugh, looking at Emma as if she was serious. “Thank you for that, now I will have great pleasure in letting you die first.” He walked over to her and grabbed her into a chokehold. “Open up that mouth of yours, my dear. I’m sure you’ll _love_ the taste of this as it eats up your insides.” Charles slowly started raised his fingers to his temples in attempts to stop Shaw, who locked eyes with Charles. “Nice try,” he smirked and released Emma, letting her gasp for air on the ground, “but,” he walked over to a shelf next to him and placed a silver helmet on his head, “you have to be quicker than that. Now,” he still held onto the ball of plasma, “since you all are having a hard time deciding on who to die, let’s make a compromise: Give me Alex and _one_ of you will die, deal?”

“What if I go willingly?” Alex piped up and he stepped forward. “I’ll join whatever fucking mess you made of this place if you let my friends go, all of them.” Alex looked over at Charles and gave him a nod of his head. “Get everyone out of here, I’ll be okay.” Charles felt a wave of a plan flood into his mind that Alex was projecting at him, but Charles didn’t like the thought of it. 

_There are other ways, Alex_. Charles looked at him pleadingly but Alex shook his head and looked back over at Shaw.

“Just let me say goodbye to everyone and I’m all yours.” Alex offered and Shaw tossed around the ball of plasma in his hands as if contemplating that decision. 

“Too easy,” Shaw walked up to Alex and looked at him up and down, “since who’s to say they won’t come back for you? Especially this one,” he nodded towards Hank and started to grin wickedly. “How about Hank, hm? Why don’t we kill him and the rest can go?”

“No,” Charles snapped immediately and let go of Erik’s hand, making his way in front of Hank and yanking Alex back and away from Shaw. “You are staying far away from _all_ of them. Look Sebastian, I don’t know who the hell you think you are but if you think I’m going to let you lay a damn finger on any of them, you are terribly mistaken.” Charles rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbows. “You think you’re so damn strong then prove it.”

Shaw chuckled and his eyes swam with amusement. “You serious? Please, let me save you the-

Charles punched him right in those nose, making his stagger backwards. _Everyone grab onto Azazel and go, I’ll be just a minute_ he told everyone as he prepared his arms, ready to throw or defend himself from a punch. 

The smell of sulfur filled the air and Charles knew everyone was gone then. Shaw was clutching at his nose which was dripping with blood, but he looked at Charles as if he was impressed. “I underestimated you,” he muffled.

“And I pity you for ever thinking so.” Charles took one last look at Sebastian Shaw before he felt a hand on his shoulder and in an instant, he was in the hotel lobby, surrounded by everyone else. Everyone looked relieved, to say the least, but Sean was still missing. 

“Charles,” he turned into Erik’s arms, feeling him pull him close, “don’t you ever do anything like that _ever_ again. Next time, you let me kill the bastard while I have the chance.” Charles playfully rolled his eyes and kissed Erik chastely on the lips.

“Well, it was either that or Alex was going to burn the whole place down,” he pointed out and Alex scoffed.

“It would’ve worked, maybe,” he mumbled and Charles laughed. 

“Come on everyone, let’s go find Sean.”

-  
“I thought Sean wanted to find the aliens?” Charles asked as he stared at the shattered glass window of the pet store they were now standing in front of. Thanks to Emma, Charles was now able to reach out and find Sean, which lead them all to a pet store a couple miles off of the strip.

“He did, so we went to Area 51,” Alex explained, “but the only people that were there were NASA and Sean was high too so, aliens could’ve been anything now that I think about it,” he mumbled.

“But NASA was very interesting, I believe they were doing some research about extraterrestrial life,” Hank rambled, “but we didn’t spend much time there since Alex and I sort of got sent to jail.” Charles opened his mouth to reply but he honestly didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Anyway,” Raven piped up cheerily, “let’s go get Sean so we can all just go home!” She went up to the shattered window and cautiously stepped inside; everyone followed her.

The pet store was all dark and there were various pets in cages and showcases all around the store. In the very back, lying lazily across the counter, was Sean, holding a large green turtle.

“Sean! You’re alright!” Sean slowly looked over at everyone, looking a little confused.

“Of course I’m alright,” Sean slowly sat up and set the turtle down in his lamp. “I had to find my son.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow. “Son?”

Sean raised the turtle in the air for everyone to see. “Guys, this is Brownie Alien Cassidy. Brownie, meet your new family,” Sean pressed a kiss to his shell. 

“Are you telling me that you’ve been in this pet store the whole time cuddling a turtle while all of us were just put into danger?!” Alex exclaimed dramatically and ran both of his hands through his hair. “I need a drink,” he grumbled.

“I have a brownie,” Sean pulled out a small chunk of a brownie out of his pocket. “They’re very good though, so I might only give you half.” 

“I think we’re all good Sean, but thank you,” Charles smiled sweetly at him. “I think it’s time that we all get back to the hotel, pack up our things, and go home.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement while Sean frowned.

“What about Brownie? I can’t just leave him here,” Sean stared longingly at his turtle. “I’ll pay for the food, and his cage, I promise,” he looked over at Charles with puppy dog eyes. 

“Brownie can come with us. The more the merrier, right?” Sean cheered as he hopped off the counter and threw his arms around Charles in a hug. 

“You’ll love it at the mansion, Brownie, I know you will!” Sean enthused and they all started to make their way back to the hotel, but Alex wanted to make one last stop.

Charles didn’t want to know why he wanted to go to a tattoo shop of all places, but he was only in there for about a minute before emerging with another man. He was tall, looked a little pissed off, and Charles could sense he was a mutant. 

“Guys, this is Logan, Logan, this is everyone,” he introduced. 

Logan’s eyes skimmed over everyone. “And?”

“And we’re just like you,” Charles stepped forward and smiled kindly at Logan. “If you want to, you’re welcome to come with us back to Westchester.”

Logan gave a slow nod. “I’ll think about it.” Charles smiled and took that as a yes.

-  
“Charles?”

“Hm?” Charles looked away from the small plane window and over at Erik, smiling at him sweetly. Erik pressed a loving kiss to his lips, running a hand through his hair. “I love you,” Charles gasped against his lips.

“And I love you, liebling,” Erik murmured against his lips, both of them pulling away when they hear a giggle.

“Don’t stop on my account,” Raven teased and Charles shot her a look. “It’s about time you two finally did something about your feelings.”

Charles rolled his eyes. “Yes, thank you for your constant teasing about us not being together.”

“You’re welcome,” Raven beamed before turning around in her seat and returning her attention to Azazel.

Charles shook his head at his sister and quickly glanced around the plane. Sean was sitting comfortably with Brownie in his lap, Charles made the flight attendants believe that having animals on planes was alright, chatting happily to Logan, whose eyes were closed as if he was trying to sleep. Emma was in the row behind them, filing her nails, unaware of everyone else. Angel and Darwin were chatting quietly across from Emma, giggling every once in a while as they would talk. Charles smiled softly at the sight and looked at the row across from him, seeing Hank was reading while Alex rested his head on his shoulder. He turned back to Erik and gave him a kiss as the plane started to descend.

It felt good to be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything is resolved...or is it? Still one more chapter left to go!!!


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one!!!!

**_Two years later…_ **

Charles’ head felt like it was being stabbed at with sharp knives. Opening his eyes was absolutely dreadful, but he knew he had to get up since he did have a plane to catch.

_He had a plane to catch._

“Oh no,” Charles sat up, a pair of Mickey Mouse ears falling onto his lap when he did. “Erik,” Charles looked around the suite and didn’t see him, feeling a worry starting to fill him. The loud groan next to him snapped his attention and Charles looked behind him to see he was sitting on Erik’s lap. “Darling,” he ran a hand through Erik’s messy hair, “we have to get going.” 

“Charles, I have to use the bathroom,” Erik muttered and Charles sighed and got out of Erik’s lap while he went off to the bathroom. 

He looked around the hotel suite then. Emma was lying comfortably on the dining table, her platinum blonde hair was completely knotted, and she had red wine stains all over the hem of her white cocktail dress. Sean, thankfully here this time, was lying down on about three dining chairs close to Emma, with Brownie sitting comfortably on his back. Angel and Darwin were crammed together on a loveseat, a bottle of champagne in between them. Charles looked over in the kitchen area to see Hank was lying on the counter and Alex was on top of him, a pair of mouse ears resting on both of their heads.

“Charles,” he looked over at Erik, who emerged from the bathroom, “Azazel and Raven are asleep in the bathtub,” he commented and took a seat next to Charles on the couch, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, leaning in to kiss him but ended up throwing up on his lap. “I’m sorry,” he muttered but Charles shrugged it off, looking around the suite once again.

“Where’s Logan?”

 **THE END**  
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**OR IS IT?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and the lovely comments!!!!
> 
> Should a sequel be in order? Let me know!!


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